Benefits (Earnings Disregards)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what are the earnings disregards for those benefits for which he is responsible expressed in  (a) cash terms,  (b) real terms with 1997 as the base year and  (c) terms of hours of work at present minimum wage rates.

James Plaskitt: Earnings disregards apply to all income related benefits: income support; jobseeker's allowance; pension credit; housing benefit and council tax benefit.
	Benefits rates are set for the financial year, not the calendar year, and with 1997-98 as the base year, the real terms amounts of the earnings disregards are set out in the table together with the current rates
	
		
			  Earnings disregards in income related benefits cash and real terms 
			  £ 
			   Cash terms  Real terms( 1) 
			 Standard earnings (single) 5.00 4.00 
			 Couples earnings 10.00 7.90 
			 Disabled, or carer 20.00 15.90 
			 Lone parent (not HB/CTB) 20.00 15.90 
			 Lone parent (HB/CTB only) 25.00 19.80 
			 HB/CTB 16/ to 30-hour disregard 14.90 11.80 
			 HB/CTB childcare disregard one child 175.00 138.80 
			 HB/CTB childcare disregard two+ children 300.00 238.00 
			 (1) Deflated by RPI, base year: 1997-98 Notes:1. Forecast RPI for 2006-07, from Budget 20062. The first three disregards apply to all income related benefits.3. There are different lone parent rates for housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB).4. The last four disregards apply to HB and CTB only. 
		
	
	There are three levels of the national minimum wage. The rates from 1 October 2006 are: £5.35 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older; a development rate of £4.45 per hour for workers aged 18-21 years inclusive; and £3.30 per hour which applies to all workers under the age of 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age.
	At the £5.35 per hour rate, the number of hours required to reach the earnings disregard level for each type of disregard ranges from one hour for a claimant on the standard earnings disregard, to five hours for a lone parent on housing benefit or council tax benefit. However, at 16 hours, such a lone parent would also qualify for an additional earnings disregard amount of £14.90.

Benefits (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in City of York constituency were in receipt of each benefit administered by his Department  (a) at the latest date for which figures are available and  (b) on the same date in each of the previous 10 years; and how much was spent in the constituency on each benefit in each year.

James Plaskitt: The available information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Income support (IS), jobseeker's allowance (JSA), incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance (IB/SDA), widow's benefit (WB), pension credit (PC), minimum income guarantee (MIG), disability living allowance (DLA), and attendance allowance (AA) claimants in the City of York parliamentary constituency, as at February each year 
			   IS  JSA  IB/SDA  WB  PC  MIG  DLA  AA 
			 1997 3,690 3,460 4,040 — — 2,600 2,500 1,900 
			 1998 3,370 2,760 4,144 — — 2,400 2,700 1,900 
			 1999 3,670 2,402 4,040 — — 2,400 2,700 2,000 
			 2000 3,650 2,189 4,020 340 — 2,560 3,000 2,000 
			 2001 3,740 1,903 4,170 340 — 2,610 3,200 1,900 
			 2002 3,710 1,689 4,210 300 — 2,740 3,200 1,900 
			 2003 3,480 1,571 4,150 260 — 2,730 3,140 1,800 
			 2004 3,370 1,580 4,080 210 3,720 — 3,250 2,000 
			 2005 3,250 1,298 4,010 190 4,330 — 3,330 2,100 
			 2006 3,190 1,659 3,890 170 4,470 — 3,420 2,300 
			  Notes: 1. IS figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and exclude MIG cases.2. JSA figures are un-rounded and are not seasonally adjusted.3. IB/SDA figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and include IB contributions only cases.4. WB figures are rounded to the nearest 10.5. PC figures are rounded to the nearest 10.6. MIG figures are rounded to the nearest hundred from 1997 to 1999 and to the nearest 10 from 2000 onwards.7. DLA figures are rounded to the nearest hundred from 1997 to 2002 and to the nearest 10 from 2003 onwards.8. AA figures are rounded to the nearest 100.9. WB figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency prior to September 1999.10. WB was replaced by bereavement benefit on 9 April 2001.11. PC replaced MIG on 6 October 2003.12. DLA and AA figures exclude suspended cases. Source:100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS); DWP information Directorate 5 per cent. samples; count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer system (including clerically held cases). 
		
	
	
		
			  Carer's allowance (CA), state pension (SP), and bereavement benefit (BB) claimants in the City of York parliamentary constituency, as at date shown each year 
			   CA  SP  BB 
			 March 2000 — 18,400 — 
			 March 2001 — 18,000 — 
			 March 2002 500 17,800 100 
			 February 2003 500 18,200 70 
			 February 2004 470 18,150 70 
			 February 2005 490 18,150 60 
			 February 2006 510 18,070 80 
			  Notes: 1. CA figures are rounded to the nearest 100 from 2002-03 and to the nearest 10 from 2004 onwards.2. SP figures are rounded to the nearest 100 from 2000 to 2002 and to the nearest 10 from 2003 onwards.3. BB figures are rounded to the nearest 100 for 2002 and to the nearest 10 from 2003 onwards.4. CA figures exclude underlying entitlement cases.5. CA and SP figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency prior to 2000.6. BB replaced widow's benefit, for new claims, on 9 April 2001. Sources: 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS); DWP information Directorate 5 per cent. samples. 
		
	
	
		
			  Industrial injuries disablement benefit (IIDB) claimants in the City of York parliamentary constituency, as at date shown each year 
			   Number 
			 March 2000 200 
			 March 2001 200 
			 March 2002 200 
			 March 2003 205 
			 March 2004 200 
			 March 2005 205 
			 December 2005 205 
			  Notes:1. IIDB figures to March 2002 are based on a 10 per cent sample from clerical forms and are subject to sampling error; they are rounded to the nearest hundred.2. IIDB figures from March 2003 are from a 100 per cent sample from the Industrial Injuries Computer System; they are rounded to the nearest five.3. IIDB figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency prior to March 2000.4. The latest available data is for December 2005. 
		
	
	
		
			  Winter fuel payments claimants in the City of York parliamentary constituency, as at date shown each year 
			  Winter  Number 
			 1999-2000 18,600 
			 2000-01 20,140 
			 2001-02 20,090 
			 2002-03 19,980 
			 2003-04 19,850 
			 2004-05 19,440 
			 2005-06 19,340 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.2. Figures are not available broken down by parliamentary constituency prior to winter 1999-2000. Source: DWP Information Directorate, 100 per cent. data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Payments made for each benefit in the City of York parliamentary constituency in 2005-06 
			   £ million 
			 Income support 13.3 
			 Jobseeker's allowance 6.1 
			 Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance 9.4 
			 Widow's benefit/bereavement benefit 1.2 
			 Pension credit 9.0 
			 Disability living allowance 10.2 
			 Attendance allowance 5.7 
			 Carer's allowance 1.3 
			 State pension 87.3 
			 Industrial injuries disablement benefit 0.5 
			 Winter fuel payments 5.5 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.2. Figures are based on four-quarterly averages for the quarters May 2005 to February 2006.3. The latest available industrial injuries disablement benefit data relate to December 2005.4. Bereavement benefit replaced widow's benefit, for new claims, on 9 April 2001. Source: 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS); DWP information Directorate 5 per cent. samples.

Government Social Research Service

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of the Government Social Research Service in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects have been completed by the service in that period; and how many people are employed in the service in his Department.

Anne McGuire: The Department's expenditure on social research for the last five financial years is given in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  Expenditure 
			 2001-02 11.8 
			 2002-03 10.2 
			 2003-04 12.5 
			 2004-05 14.2 
			 2005-06 16.92 
		
	
	The number of projects completed during the last five years, based on the number of social research reports published, is 430 (all social research undertaken by the Department is published).
	The latest available staffing figures (for the year 2004-05) indicate there are 84 social researchers employed within this Department at a cost of around £4.4 million.

Investment Allowances

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the capital limits are for those benefits for which he is responsible in  (a) cash terms,  (b) real terms with 1997 as the base and  (c) terms of years of present maximum annual investment savings account allowances.

James Plaskitt: Capital limits apply to all income related benefits: income support; jobseeker's allowance; pension credit; housing benefit and council tax benefit.
	Capital at or below the lower limit does not affect benefit. For capital between the lower and the upper limit, an amount of 'tariff income' is assumed. Claimants with capital above the upper limit are excluded from benefit. Pension credit has no upper limit, nor do housing benefit and council tax benefit when paid with pension credit.
	Benefit rates are set for the financial year, not the calendar year, and with 1997-98 as the base year, the real terms capital limit amounts are set out together with the present upper and lower capital limits, which were increased for working age claimants in April 2006, in the table.
	
		
			  Capital limits in income related benefits in cash and real terms. 
			  £ 
			   Cash terms  Real terms( 1) 
			  Council tax benefit, housing benefit, income support and jobseeker's allowance   
			 Lower limit 6,000 4,750 
			 Upper limit 16,000 12,750 
			 Child's limit 3,000 2,500 
			 Lower limit (RC/NH)(2) 10,000 8,000 
			
			  Pension credit   
			 Lower limit 6,000 4,750 
			 Upper limit (3)— (3)— 
			 Lower limit (RC/NH)W 10,000 8,000 
			 (1 )Deflated by RPI base year 1997-98(2 )RC = residential care home; NH = nursing home(3 )No limit Note:Forecast RPI for 2006-07, from Budget 2006 
		
	
	The maximum allowance for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) is £7,000 in each tax year (stocks and shares only). The lower capital limit (working age adults and pensioners) capital is broadly equivalent to the ISA allowance. The upper capital limit (working age adults only) is broadly equivalent to twice the annual ISA allowance.

National Insurance Numbers

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many national insurance numbers there were in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many national insurance numbers were issued in each year since 1997.

James Plaskitt: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Total approximate national insurance numbers in issue in each year between 1997 and 2006 
			   Number (Million) 
			 1997 66 
			 1998 67 
			 1999 68 
			 2000 69 
			 2001 70 
			 2002 71 
			 2003 72 
			 2004 73 
			 2005 74.5 
		
	
	In order to maintain the integrity of the system (and for benefit purposes) NINOs are not removed. For example, they are retained after a person dies or moves abroad. This is because individuals who move abroad may at some point have a call upon contributions paid whilst in the UK. In the case of deceased individuals, a partner may make a claim for a contributory benefit, which is dependant on the contribution record of the deceased individual. This means that the number of accounts held on the system accrues as NINOs are allocated each year to all UK children who reach 16 years and persons from abroad requiring a NINO are added.
	
		
			  Total national insurance numbers issued between 1997 and 2006 
			   Number 
			 1997 1,017,500 
			 1998 1,026,885 
			 1999 1,021,776 
			 2000 995,351 
			 2001 928,059 
			 2002 1,082,035 
			 2003 1,141,795 
			 2004 1,250,622 
			 2005 1,486,312

Pensioner Incomes

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the Pensioner Prices Index was in each year from 1976-77 to 2006-07.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question, what estimate has been made of the Pensioner Prices Index in each year from 1976-77 to 2006-07 (96313).
	The Retail Prices Index (RPI) covers the expenditure of UK private households only, excluding the top four percent by income and those pensioner households where the head of the household is retired and economically inactive and where at least three-quarters of the household income is derived from state benefits.
	Since 1969, RPI pensioner indices have been compiled on a quarterly basis for these pensioner households excluded from the RPI (separately for one and two pensioner households). These indices are based on the spending patterns of these specific households, and contain some pensioner specific items such as OAP bus and rail fares. They exclude items such as canteen meals, which are not relevant due to very small expenditure levels. They also exclude housing costs on the grounds that the price indicators used in the RPI would overstate the price increases experienced by these pensioners, because no allowance is made for rebates e.g. on council tax and local authority rents.
	Table 1 shows the RPI Pensioner Indices for 1976 - 2006 based on January 1987 = 100.
	
		
			  Table 1: RPI pensioner indices( 1) : 1976 to 2006 (January 1987=100) 
			   Quarterly Indices (January 1987=100) 
			   1 pensioner  2 pensioner 
			   Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4 
			 1976 39.4 41.0 41.8 44.3 39.4 40.9 41.8 44.3 
			 1977 46.3 48.4 49.4 50.2 46.6 48.5 49.3 50.1 
			 1978 51.1 52.4 53.1 53.6 51.0 52.3 53.0 53.6 
			 1979 55.6 57.1 60.0 62.0 55.5 57.1 60.2 62.1 
			 1980 64.9 67.8 69.6 71.2 64.8 67.8 69.3 70.7 
			 1981 73.3 75.6 76.9 78.8 73.0 75.6 76.9 78.9 
			 1982 81.3 83.4 83.6 84.7 81.2 83.1 83.2 84.4 
			 1983 85.7 86.5 87.2 88.6 85.2 86.3 87.0 88.4 
			 1984 89.7 91.5 91.5 92.5 89.5 91.5 91.4 92.4 
			 1985 94.0 96.1 96.1 96.9 93.9 96.0 96.0 96.8 
			 1986 97.9 99.0 99.0 99.4 97.7 98.8 98.9 99.4 
			 1987 100.3 101.2 100.9 102.0 100.3 101.3 101.1 102.3 
			 1988 102.8 104.6 105.3 106.6 103.1 104.8 105.5 106.8 
			 1989 108.0 110.0 111.0 113.2 108.2 110.4 111.3 113.4 
			 1990 115.3 118.1 119.9 122.4 115.4 118.3 120.2 122.6 
			 1991 123.8 127.4 128.5 129.9 123.7 128.0 128.9 130.4 
			 1992 130.8 132.2 131.6 132.6 131.5 133.2 132.6 133.7 
			 1993 133.6 135.0 134.8 135.0 134.7 136.8 136.8 136.8 
			 1994 135.1 137.7 137.4 137.8 137.3 139.6 139.4 139.9 
			 1995 139.1 140.7 141.0 141.7 141.4 143.1 143.5 144.2 
			 1996 142.8 144.3 144.1 144.3 145.5 147.2 147.1 147.6 
			 1997 144.4 145.4 145.6 146.1 147.9 149.0 149.5 150.1 
			 1998 146.0 147.5 147.5 148.6 150.1 151.8 151.9 152.8 
			 1999 148.9 149.9 149.5 150.1 153.3 154.5 154.2 154.9 
			 2000 150.0 151.0 151.1 151.2 154.9 156.2 156.5 156.9 
			 2001 150.6 153.3 153.0 153.9 156.5 159.3 158.9 159.3 
			 2002 154.7 155.3 155.0 156.1 160.1 161.0 160.7 161.7 
			 2003 156.7 157.9 158.3 159.4 162.6 163.7 164.0 165.0 
			 2004 159.7 160.9 160.5 162.3 165.4 166.6 166.1 167.6 
			 2005 163.4 164.8 165.1 167.1 168.3 169.8 170.1 171.7 
			 2006 168.2 171.6 173.6 — 172.4 175.4 177.2 — 
		
	
	
		
			   Percentage changes over a year earlier 
			   1 pensioner  2 pensioner 
			   Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4 
			 1976 25.6 17.9 15.9 18.1 25.2 17.4 15.4 17.9 
			 1977 17.5 18.1 18.4 13.4 18.1 18.4 18.0 13.0 
			 1978 10.3 8.3 7.3 6.6 9.4 7.8 7.5 7.1 
			 1979 8.8 8.9 13.1 15.8 9.0 9.2 13.5 15.8 
			 1980 16.7 18.8 16.0 14.7 16.6 18.8 15.3 14.0 
			 1981 13.0 11.4 10.5 10.7 12.6 11.4 11.0 11.5 
			 1982 10.9 10.4 8.7 7.5 11.2 10.0 8.2 7.0 
			 1983 5.4 3.7 4.3 4.6 5.0 3.8 4.6 4.8 
			 1984 4.7 5.8 5.0 4.4 5.0 6.0 5.1 4.5 
			 1985 4.8 5.0 4.9 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.0 4.7 
			 1986 4.2 3.1 3.0 2.6 4.1 2.9 3.0 2.7 
			 1987 2.4 2.2 1.9 2.6 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.9 
			 1988 2.5 3.4 4.4 4.5 2.8 3.5 4.4 4.4 
			 1989 5.1 5.2 5.4 6.2 4.9 5.3 5.5 6.2 
			 1990 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.1 6.7 7.2 8.0 8.1 
			 1991 7.4 7.9 7.2 6.1 7.2 8.2 7.2 6.4 
			 1992 5.7 3.8 2.4 2.1 6.3 4.1 2.9 2.5 
			 1993 2.1 2.1 2.4 1.8 2.4 2.7 3.2 2.3 
			 1994 1.1 2.0 1.9 2.1 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.3 
			 1995 3.0 2.2 2.6 2.8 3.0 2.5 2.9 3.1 
			 1996 2.7 2.6 2.2 1.8 2.9 2.9 2.5 2.4 
			 1997 1.1 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.7 
			 1998 1.1 1.4 1.3 1.7 1.5 1.9 1.6 1.8 
			 1999 2.0 1.6 1.4 1.0 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.4 
			 2000 0.7 0.7 1.1 0.7 1.0 1.1 1.5 1.3 
			 2001 0.4 1.5 1.3 1.8 1.0 2.0 1.5 1.5 
			 2002 2.7 1.3 1.3 1.4 2.3 1.1 1.1 1.5 
			 2003 1.3 1.7 2.1 2.1 1.6 1.7 2.1 2.0 
			 2004 1.9 1.9 1.4 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.3 1.6 
			 2005 2.3 2.4 2.9 3.0 1.8 1.9 2.4 2.4 
			 2006 2.9 4.1 5.1 — 2.4 3.3 4.2 — 
			 (1) Separate indices are produced for 1 and for 2 pensioner households that are excluded from the RPI. That is households where the head of the household is retired (at least 65 years of age for men and 60 years or more for women) and economically inactive, and where at least three quarters of the household's income is from state benefits.   Source:  National Statistics

Remploy

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people have been placed via Remploy Interwork into supported jobs with  (a) mainstream and  (b) other companies in each of the past five years;
	(2)  how many people have transferred from Remploy businesses to Remploy Interwork in each of the past five years.

Anne McGuire: The available information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Disabled people placed by Remploy Interwork into work with employers( 1) 
			  April to March  Number 
			 2001-02 1,048 
			 2002-03 1,743 
			 2003-04 2,486 
			 2004-05 3,576 
			 2005-06 4,285 
			 (1) Information is not available to differentiate between mainstream employers and other companies. 
		
	
	
		
			  People who have transferred from Remploy businesses to Remploy Interwork 
			  April to March  Number 
			 2001-02 98 
			 2002-03 93 
			 2003-04 58 
			 2004-05 12 
			 2005-06 22

Remploy

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what types of training schemes are available to people through Remploy Interwork;
	(2)  how many people have undertaken work-related training schemes through Remploy Interwork in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: Remploy Interwork provides vocational skills development programmes to build up knowledge of specific work sectors and training to develop basic work and presentational skills.
	All disabled people entering a Remploy Interwork programme receive an individual tailored programme of support and training.
	The available information is in the table.
	
		
			  Disabled people who have undertaken a work-related training scheme through Remploy Interwork 
			  April to March  Number 
			 2001-02 (1)— 
			 2002-03 3,422 
			 2003-04 8,995 
			 2004-05 7,061 
			 2005-06 7,167 
			 (1) Information is not held by Remploy.

Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund

David Laws: To ask the Leader of the House 
	(1)  how much was spent on the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund and its predecessors in each year since 1980-81; what forecasts he has made of how much will be spent in each year between 2007-08 and 2050-51; and how many members of the scheme there are;
	(2)  what recent estimate he has made of the  (a) rate and  (b) annual cost of employer contributions to the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: The Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF) is a fully-funded pension scheme whose costs are met from Members' contributions, investment returns and an Exchequer contribution. The Government Actuary undertakes a triennial valuation in which he makes recommendations as to the necessary Exchequer contribution to the PCPF. This can rise or fall depending on factors such as predicted investment returns and longevity assumptions. The value of the Exchequer contributions since 1978-79 is as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  PCPF exchequer contribution rate (Percentage of Members' salaries)  PCPF exchequer contribution rate (Percentage of office holders' salaries)  PCPF exchequer contribution (£ million) 
			 1978-79 18.5 18.5 4.07 in aggregate over a 3-year period 
			 1979-80 16 16 See above 
			 1980-81 16 16 See above 
			 1981-82 16 16 5.55 in aggregate over a 3-year period 
			 1982-83 16 16 See above 
			 1983-84 20 14 See above 
			 1984-85 20 14 8.21 in aggregate over a 3-year period 
			 1985-86 20 14 See above 
			 1986-87 20 14 See above 
			 1987-88 19 13 6.65 in aggregate over a 3-year period 
			 1988-89 19 13 See above 
			 1989-90 4.4 4.4 See above 
			 1990-91 4.4 4.4 0.88 
			 1991-92 4.4 4.4 0.94 
			 1992-93 6.8 6.8 1.52 
			 1993-94 6.8 6.8 1.54 
			 1994-95 6.8 6.8 1.59 
			 1995-96 7.6 6.8 1.83 
			 1996-97 9.6 6.8 2.75 
			 1997-98 9.6 7.6 3.04 
			 1998-99 7.6 6.8 2.49 
			 1999-2000 7.5 7.5 2.56 
			 2000-01 7.5 7.5 2.66 
			 2001-02 7.5 7.5 2.86 
			 2002-03 7.9 7.9 3.26 
			 2003-04 24 24 9.82 
			 2004-05 24 24 9.96 
			 2005-06 24 24 10.17 
			  Notes:  1. The above costs include contributions payable in respect of pensions provided for MPs, Ministers and office holders.  2. Contribution rates for 1978 to 1981 were based on a notional salary figure. 
		
	
	In the triennial valuation report laid before the House in March 2006, the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) calculated the Exchequer contribution should be 26.8 per cent. of pensionable pay from 2006-07 until 2020-21 and then 18.1 per cent. of pensionable pay thereafter. The estimated cost of contributions payable by the Exchequer for 2006-07 to 2008-09, the period until the next triennial valuation, is £11.9 million per annum. As at 31 March 2006 the membership of the PCPF was as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Current members 668 
			 Deferred members (former MPs, Ministers and office holders not yet in receipt of a pension) 228 
			 Pensioners 908

Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund

David Laws: To ask the Leader of the House 
	(1)  what the arrangements are for the payment of pensions to people who retire early through ill-health for the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund; what the incidence of the health retirement was as a percentage of all retirements from the scheme for each year since 1988-89; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the current rate of ill-health retirement is for the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: The granting of early retirement is a matter for the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF) trustees. A current Member who ceases to serve as an MP or Office Holder prior to age 65 and who applies to retire because of ill-health, is required to be examined by a medical practitioner appointed by the trustees to advise on whether his or her ill-health would prevent him or her from performing adequately the duties of a MP. The resulting medical report is considered by the trustees. A former MP or Office Holder may also apply to receive an ill-health pension, subject to confirming that he or she does not intend to seek election to the House or accept any future offer to serve as an Office Holder, and the medical practitioner confirming that the former member has retired from 'gainful work' as a direct consequence of ill-health.
	The incidence of ill health retirements of current and former Members from the Fund between 1987 and 2005 is shown in the following table.
	Statistics for each individual year are not available.
	
		
			Of which: 
			  Period (as at 1 April each year)  Total retirements  Retirements paid early on ill health grounds  Percentage paid early on ill health grounds 
			 1987-1990 101 6 6 
			 1990-93 104 5 5 
			 1993-96 40 2 5 
			 1996-99 168 8 5 
			 1999-2002 99 6 6 
			 2002-05 58 2 3 
		
	
	Serving Members who are awarded an ill-health pension are provided with a pension that they could have expected to receive had they served as an MP up to age 65. Former Members awarded an ill-health pension receive their pension built up to the date of retirement without actuarial reduction for early payment.

September Sittings

Frank Doran: To ask the Leader of the House what business was conducted on each day the House sat in September 2003 and September 2004; what the hours of sitting were on each day; and how many  (a) divisions took place and  (b) hon. Members took part in each division.

Jack Straw: The House held normal sittings in September in 2003 and 2004 for eight and seven days respectively. There were emergency recalls in 1990 (two days), 1992 (two days), 1998 (two days), 2001 (three separate days) and 2002 (one day). The information for 2003 and 2004 is as follows:
	
		
			  September sitting: 2003 
			  Date  Business  Hours sat  Divisions and number voting 
			 Monday 8 September Second Reading: Water Bill 8.34 Three: 492; 485; 474 
			 Tuesday 9 September Opposition Day (Con) (Iraq and Teacher Shortages) 9.26 Two: 448; 438 
			 Wednesday 10 September Opposition Day (Lib Dem) (Old Age and Iraq) 8.15 Three: 373; 389; 338 Three deferred: 390; 295; 388 
			 Thursday 11 September Government adjournment: Defence 7.00 None 
			 Monday 15 September Lords Amendments: Local Government Bill 7.57 Four: 338; 377; 412; 
			 Tuesday 16 September Opposition Day (Con) (Electricity and EU Constitution) 8.22 Three: 456; 427; 406 
			 Wednesday 17 September Remaining Stages: Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc) Bill and Lords Amendments: Local Government Bill 13.20 Six: 332; 328; 337; 346; 343; 333 
			 Thursday 18 September Second Reading: Arms Control and Disarmament (Inspections) Bill [ Lords] 4.56 None 
		
	
	There were also sittings in Westminster Hall on eight days and 2,888 parliamentary questions were dealt with.
	
		
			  September sitting: 2004 
			  Date  Business  Hours sat  Divisions and number voting 
			 Tuesday 7 September Second Reading: Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Bill [Lords] 6.52 None 
			 Wednesday 8 September Opposition Day (Con) (Pensions and MRSA) 8.30 Three: 501; 497; 468 
			 Thursday 9 September Government adjournment (European Constitution) 7.02 None 
			 Monday 13 September Second Reading: Children Bill [Lords] 8.40 One (programme motion): 313 
			 Tuesday 14 September Opposition Day (Lib Dem) (Higher Education and Older Women) 8.30 Four: 441; 442; 432; 423 
			 Wednesday 15 September Remaining Stages: Hunting Bill 11.18 Eight: 468; 477; 467; 466; 522; 357; 337; 494 
			 Thursday 16 September Lords Amendments: Employment Relations Bill; Government adjournment (HIV/AIDS) 7.00 None 
		
	
	There were also sittings in Westminster Hall on six days and 2,201 parliamentary questions dealt with.

Databases (Security Breaches)

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external sources in each case; how many records were compromised on each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned.

Gillian Merron: There have been no confirmed security breaches from external sources to databases controlled by the Department for Transport and its agencies in the last five years.
	Confirmed breaches committed by staff over this period are:
	
		
			   Number of breaches  Number of records compromised  Estimate of total number of records accessible 
			 2002 1 20 (1)— 
			 2003 2 3 (1)— 
			 2004 1 13 (1)— 
			 2005 2 20 (1)— 
			 2006 2 40 (1)— 
			 (1) Unknown.

Housing

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of social housing provided by housing associations has been achieved by section 106 agreements, broken down by region.

Yvette Cooper: The percentages of affordable housing units provided by registered social landlords as a result of section 106 agreements in England in the financial year 2004-05 are tabulated as follows. Information on section 106 agreements in 2005-06 is being finalised and will be made available on the Department for Communities and Local Government website shortly.
	
		
			  Affordable housing provided by registered social landlords in financial year 2004-05: England 
			   Total affordable housing units provided  Number of affordable units with contributions through S106 agreements  Percentage 
			 North East 728 186 26 
			 North West 2,220 483 22 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,360 592 44 
			 East Midlands 1,880 1,165 62 
			 West Midlands 3,153 1,531 49 
			 East 3,818 2,569 67 
			 London 9,388 3,634 39 
			 South East 8,020 5,038 63 
			 South West 3,304 1,756 53 
			 England 33,871 16,954 50 
			  Notes:  1. Affordable housing is defined as social rent and low cost home ownership.  2. Units includes dwellings and bed spaces.  3. Information refers to registered social landlords only and excludes other housing associations not registered with the Housing Corporation.   Source: Housing Corporation. Annual returns (HSSA) from local authorities to DCLG.

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on the local government pension scheme in each year since 1980-81; what forecasts she has made of how much will be spent in each year between 2007-08 and 2050-51; and how many members of the scheme there are.

Phil Woolas: The amount spent on the local government pension scheme (LGPS) involving contributions paid by employers and employees, plus investment income, and the amount spent annually on pension benefits between 1995-96 and 2004-05 is shown at columns two and three respectively in the following table. Information before 1995-96 is not available.
	
		
			  £ billion 
			   Total income  Expenditure on benefits 
			 1995-96 4.2 2.6 
			 1996-97 4.7 2.7 
			 1997-98 5.0 2.9 
			 1998-99 5.5 3.0 
			 1999-2000 5.9 3.1 
			 2000-01 6.3 3.3 
			 2001-02 6.7 3.5 
			 2002-03 7.0 3.6 
			 2003-04 7.6 3.8 
			 2004-05 8.3 4.0 
		
	
	No forecasts have been made of how much will be spent between 2007-08 and 2050-51. Future pension liabilities, and the amount of employer contributions, taking into account the expected level of investment returns needed to match future liabilities, are determined by fund actuaries every three years. The next fund valuation exercise takes place in England and Wales on 31 March 2007.
	At 31 March 2005, the number of active members, pensioners with deferred benefits and pensioners in the local government pension scheme was 1.6 million; 757,000 and 952,000 respectively. All the above data are derived from annual returns submitted to the Department by LGPS administering authorities in England and Wales.

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on the firefighters pension scheme in each year since 1980-81; what forecasts she has made of how much will be spent in each year between 2007-08 and 2050-51; and how many members of the scheme there are.

Phil Woolas: DCLG holds data on the actual amount spent by Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) on the firefighters pension scheme for the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 as well as estimates, provided by the FRAs, of the amount that will be spent on both the 1992 and 2006 firefighter pension schemes for the years 2006-07 until 2010-11. These data are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £000 
			  Financial year   Pensions expenditure by FRAs 
			 2003-04 Actual 376,117 
			 2004-05 Actual 415,286 
			 2005-06 Actual 455,474 
			 2006-07 Estimate 460,303 
			 2007-08 Estimate 481,671 
			 2008-09 Estimate 530,586 
			 2009-10 Estimate 553,283 
			 2010-11 Estimate 570,732 
		
	
	These figures are only for the amount spent in England on the firefighter pension scheme by FRAs.
	There were 31,062 members of the 1992 firefighter pension scheme at the 31 March 2006.

Abattoirs

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abattoirs in England are licensed to offer organic meat processing; and what type of meat each deals with.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 24 October 2006
	There are 55 plants in England registered to process organic meat. 45 are red meat slaughterhouses, 38 are red meat cutting plants, six are white meat slaughterhouses, 10 are white meat cutting plants and seven deal with meat preparation. The majority of cutting plants are co-located with the slaughterhouses.
	This number excludes meat processors registered on the license of an organic producer.

Abattoirs

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abattoirs are in operation in England; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 24 October 2006
	There are currently 246 red meat abattoirs and 95 poultry meat abattoirs authorised to operate in England. Of these, 233 red meat and 82 poultry meat abattoirs were operating during the month of September 2006. A number of abattoirs may not be operating at any one time for a variety of reasons, such as seasonal operation, refurbishment or commercial reasons.
	The hon. Gentleman will recall the answer I gave to him on 14 July 2006,  Official Report, column 2173W. This noted that the number of slaughterhouses in England has reduced in recent years reflecting a longer-term trend for consolidation and that the Government recognise the importance of an adequate network of slaughterhouses to ensure that all sustainable production needs can continue to be met. I also refer my hon. Friend again to the answer given by my predecessor on 9 November 2005,  Official Report, column 476W

Agency Budgets

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when Stearthill Farms Ltd. (RPA Ref: 108841927) will receive its single farm payment award.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 23 October 2006
	The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has confirmed that advance payments were made to this applicant on 10 May 2006 and 7 July 2006. A further payment is due following an award from the National Reserve. RPA is unable to give a date for the payment but this will be as soon as it is possible.

Agricultural Support

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been paid to farmers in grant aid and subsidy in each year since 1997, expressed in  (a) actual and  (b) real terms; and what future such payments are planned, expressed in the same terms.

Barry Gardiner: The following tables show subsidies and other payments paid direct to farmers in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2005 in current prices (or "actual terms") and in real terms at 2005 prices with the retail prices index.
	The data include subsidies and other payments funded by the EU. They exclude compensation for losses due to foot and mouth disease in 2001 and other capital transfers.
	
		
			  Subsidies and other payments made to farmers in current prices: United Kingdom 
			  £ million 
			   Coupled subsidies( 1)  Decoupled subsidies and other payments( 2)  Total subsidies and other payments 
			 1997 2,588 189 2,777 
			 1998 2,436 210 2,646 
			 1999 2,373 318 2,692 
			 2000 2,187 297 2,484 
			 2001 1,923 536 2,459 
			 2002 2,132 562 2,694 
			 2003 2,174 622 2,796 
			 2004 2,369 585 2,955 
			 2005(3) 212 2,831 3,043 
		
	
	
		
			  Subsidies and other payments made to farmers in real terms at 2005 prices: United Kingdom 
			   Retail prices index (2,000=100)  Coupled subsidies( 1 ) (£ million)  Decoupled subsidies and other payment( 2 ) (£ million)  Total subsidies and other payments (£ million) 
			 1997 92 3,154 230 3,384 
			 1998 96 2,871 247 3,118 
			 1999 97 2,755 369 3,124 
			 2000 100 2,465 334 2,800 
			 2001 102 2,129 594 2,723 
			 2002 103 2,323 612 2,935 
			 2003 106 2,302 659 2,961 
			 2004 110 2,436 602 3,038 
			 2005(3) 113 212 2,831 3,043 
			 (1) Payments directly linked to the production of agricultural products, eg sheep annual premium, beef special premium scheme, less levies, eg milk superlevy.  (2) Payments not linked to the production of agricultural products, eg single payment scheme, agri-environment schemes, support for less favoured areas.  (3) Data for 2005 are provisional.   Note:  Excludes compensation for losses due to foot and mouth disease in 2001 and other capital transfers. 
		
	
	Looking ahead, expenditure on coupled subsidies is largely demand led and, therefore, difficult to estimate. Expenditure on decoupled subsidies will arise largely from the single payment scheme, for which the UK's financial ceiling for years 2006 onwards is shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Budget for single payment scheme: United Kingdom (£ million)( 1) 
			 2006 2,673 
			 2007 2,684 
			 2008 2,695 
			 2009 2,701 
			 2010+ 2,694 
			 (1) Calculated using the euro/ exchange rate which applies in the 2006 scheme year (1€ = 0.67770). 
		
	
	The European Commission has also recently announced that the UK will receive approximately £1.3 billion for expenditure on rural development programmes over the seven year period 2007-13. These European Funds must be matched, or near-matched, pound for pound with domestic exchequer money.

Animal Welfare

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints regarding the welfare of pigs the State Veterinary Service has investigated in each of the last five years; and in how many cases legal action resulting in a positive outcome has been pursued.

Ben Bradshaw: The information requested is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Pig welfare complaint investigations 
			   Complaints  Legal action taken  Resolved  Not yet resolved 
			 2001 69 21 21 0 
			 2002 125 46 46 0 
			 2003 130 54 54 0 
			 2004 140 51 51 0 
			 2005 142 50 49 (1)1 
			 2006 to date 82 34 33 (2)1 
			 (1 )(case is subject to further investigation)(2 )(prosecution pending) 
		
	
	Legal action can include prosecution, provision of a statement, serving an Enforcement Notice under Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations 2000 (as amended), issuing a caution or advisory letter and a revisit to monitor compliance.

Carbon Fund for Africa

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on progress made in developing a carbon fund for Africa.

Ian Pearson: The second meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Nairobi, this November, presents an ideal opportunity to explore how Africa's participation in investment in projects through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) can be enhanced. There are several alternative proposals on the table for discussion in Nairobi, and the UK is keen to see a positive outcome.
	The CDM market has grown enormously in the last year, with an estimated 1,000 projects, and 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the pipeline to 2012. The UK is the major private sector participant in the CDM market, with UK companies participating in some 25 per cent. of currently registered CDM projects.
	Africa does not have a record of attracting significant private investment in CDM.
	So the Government are arguing for the development of a fund which could assist in building capacity within Africa to develop and identify projects that could attract carbon finance. I am discussing the idea with colleagues from within the EU as well as from Africa. In parallel, I have asked officials to examine how a carbon fund for Africa could be best designed to deliver on this objective.
	The challenge is to ensure that any fund is designed to deliver long-term benefits to the countries concerned. As well as pressing the fund we need to look at the full range of measures to support and enhance Africa's participation in the CDM.
	There is already considerable international experience on support to CDM-related investment.
	The UK already supports several initiatives that assist African participation in CDM:
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Global Opportunities Fund supports many projects designed to enhance developing countries' capacity to participate in CDM. There are several projects supporting CDM investment in Africa; in Angola, Nigeria and South Africa.
	As a Government, we are also investing in the Kuyasa township CDM project in Cape Town, South Africa, to offset the emissions of the G8 presidency. I hope that we can build on this investment in the tender for the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund which we have set up to offset emissions from official travel.
	There are also several existing multilateral, European and bilateral initiatives on support capacity building and project investment, both agreed at a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change level, through the World Banks and bilaterally. This is something we need to learn from and build on.

Dairy Farming

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much milk was imported into the UK from Poland in the last 12 months; and what projections he has made of future levels of imports of milk from Poland.

Barry Gardiner: The following table shows the imports of liquid milk from Poland over the last 12 months to August 2006 as recorded in the Official Trade Statistics. Imports of liquid milk were recorded for five of these months as shown in the table. There were no recorded imports for the other months in this period.
	For the period January to August 2006 the total liquid milk imported from Poland accounts as 0.02 per cent. of total imports of liquid milk into the UK.
	
		
			  2006( 1) 
			   Tonnes  £000 
			 January 0.7 0.2 
			 March 2.0 0.1 
			 April 4.3 1.1 
			 May 0.9 0.7 
			 August 0.3 0.1 
			 Grand total 8.2 2.1 
			 (1 )2006 data are subject to amendmentsSource:HM Revenue and Customs

Dairy Farming

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the age profile is of dairy farmers; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The information requested is in the table.
	
		
			  Age profile of dairy farmers and all farmers in England in 2005 
			  Holder's age breakdown  Number of holders  Percentage of total 
			  Dairy farmers   
			 Less than 35 years 403 3.2 
			 35-44 years 2,123 17.0 
			 45-54 years 3,649 29.3 
			 55-64 years 3,827 30.7 
			 65 years and over 2,449 19.7 
			 All years 12,450 100.0 
			
			  All farmers   
			 Less than 35 years 4,882 2.6 
			 35-44 years 23,769 12.9 
			 45-54 years 42,897 23.2 
			 55-64 years 54,050 29.2 
			 65 years and over 59,310 32.1 
			 All years 184,909 100.0 
			 Source:EC Farm Structure Survey 2005. Data prepared by Surveys, Statistics and Food Economics, Defra, York

Dairy Farming

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to reduce the burden of bureaucracy on  (a) dairy farmers and  (b) all farmers.

Barry Gardiner: The Farming Regulation and Charging Strategy for England, published in November 2005, details a number of commitments to reduce bureaucracy and make regulatory controls more effective and easier to comply with, including through the Whole Farm Approach. The strategy is available on the Defra website at:
	www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/regulation/charge/pdf/farm-regulation-strategy.pdf
	Defra has made a commitment to reduce the administrative burdens its regulations impose on business by 25 per cent. by 2010. We have recently participated in a cross-government exercise to measure this burden and are now in the final stages of finalising our Simplification Plan to be published in November 2006. This plan outlines a range of simplification initiatives, including many that impact on farmers, that will reduce the burden on business and reach our 25 per cent. target.
	Some of these approaches will offer benefits to dairy farmers. In addition, the Government are continuing to press for the abolition of the milk quotas system, which will help to simplify existing arrangements in this sector.

Departmental Redundancies

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many redundancies there were in his Department in each year since 1997; what the cost of such redundancies was in each year; how many temporary staff were employed in each year; and how many staff were seconded by outside organisations to posts within the Department in each year.

Barry Gardiner: Defra was created in June 2001, and the following information relates to the period since then.
	
		
			   Number of redundancies  Cost of redundancies  Temporary staff (as at 1 April)  Inward secondees (as at 1 April) 
			 2001-02 — — — — 
			 2002-03 0 0 890 26 
			 2003-04 0 0 380 28 
			 2004-05 0 0 290 36 
			 2005-06 0 0 332 40 
			  Note:Defra has only just announced that 30 wildlife officers in the wildlife units near Truro and Stroud will be issued with compulsory redundancy notices in late October.

Farm Gate Prices

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average farm gate price received by farmers for their milk was over the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The following table shows monthly average farm gate milk prices in pence per litre for the last 12 months for the United Kingdom. The average prices are calculated from monthly surveys of milk purchasers conducted in England and Wales by DEFRA, in Scotland by SEERAD and in Northern Ireland by DARD. The farm gate price is the average price received by producers, net of delivery charges. No deduction has been made for super-levy.
	
		
			  United Kingdom milk prices, monthly farm gate milk prices 
			  Units: pence per litre 
			   Excluding bonus payments  Including bonus payments 
			  2005   
			 September 19.46 19.47 
			 October 19.71 19.71 
			 November 19.76 19.77 
			 December 19.27 19.27 
			
			  2006   
			 January 18.65 18.67 
			 February 18.34 18.36 
			 March 18.11 18.13 
			 April 17.34 17.36 
			 May 16.81 16.83 
			 June 16.83 16.83 
			 July 17.18 17.18 
			 August 17.60 17.61

Farm Gate Prices

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets on farmgate prices paid to farmers.

Barry Gardiner: Farmgate prices are primarily a matter for the buyers and sellers concerned. However, the implications for the dairy industry of downward pressure on producer prices was one of the items discussed at a recent meeting between the Secretary of State and supermarket chairmen.

Farm Subsidies

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what additional costs the Government  (a) has incurred and  (b) is projected to incur as a result of missing the 30 June deadline for single farm payments.

Barry Gardiner: Additional costs, in the form of reduced EU funding, may arise in relation to payments under the 2005 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) which are made after the end of the regulatory payment window on 30 June 2006. However, it is not yet possible to say what if any costs may arise in practice as that depends on the outcome of ongoing discussions with the European Commission and the amount and timing of outstanding payments across the UK.
	As announced on 22 June 2006,  Official Report, column 1478, the RPA is also paying interest payments to those claimants who had not received their full SPS payment by 30 June 2006 subject to a £50 de minimis. As at 11 October 2006, £318,201 in interest payments had been made.

Government Social Research Service

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of the Government Social Research Service in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects have been completed by the Service in that period; and how many people are employed in the Service in his Department.

Barry Gardiner: There were no Government Social Researchers in DEFRA prior to December 2003. Since that date, the requested figures are as follows:
	
		
			   £000  Number 
			  Financial year  Project cost  Staff cost  Total cost  Completed projects( 1)  GSR staff (min-max) 
			 2003-04 175 23 198 0 0-1 
			 2004-05 1,222 109 1,331 9 1-4 
			 2005-06 1,803 263 2,066 22 5-5 
			 2006-07 (2)1,034 (2)234 (2)1,268 10 4-5 
			 (1) These figures do not include the considerable outputs of the Rural Evidence Research Centre, which take a variety of forms (including conference papers and workshops/seminars) and which are therefore more difficult to enumerate.  (2) Forecast. 
		
	
	The expenditure recorded does not necessarily reflect the total expenditure on social research across the whole of DEFRA, as sometimes work is commissioned and funded directly from policy budgets without the knowledge or involvement of GSR staff.

Meat Imports

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the UK imports meat products from Tanzania.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 26 October 2006
	No. European Community legislation sets the criteria which must be met by meat imported from third countries:
	the country must be approved to export to the European Union (EU)
	there must be agreed animal and public health certification in place
	the product must come from an approved plant.
	Meat products from Tanzania can not be imported into the EU because the country does not meet any of the above criteria.

Natural England

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the financial savings targeted by the establishment of Natural England have been realised; what the estimate is of the total savings to be realised from its establishment; and what the original estimate was.

Barry Gardiner: The establishment of Natural England delivered £0.8 million efficiencies in 2005-06, and is currently expected to deliver £3 million efficiencies in 2006-07 (in line with original estimates). The Modernising Rural Delivery programme as a whole, of which the establishment of Natural England is a significant part, was originally expected to deliver (and is still on target to deliver) annual efficiencies of £21 million by 2009-10. Natural England is expected to deliver efficiencies of £6.5 million by 2007-08. Latest estimates are that in 2009-10 approximately £13.5 million efficiencies will result from the establishment of Natural England, and from its decision to outsource its corporate service functions to DEFRA's Shared Service Organisation.

Private Finance Initiative Projects

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent by his Department on private finance initiative projects postponed pending further consideration or stopped in the last 12 months.

Barry Gardiner: There have been no Defra sponsored PFI projects postponed pending further consideration or stopped in the last 12 months.

Poultry Farms (Pollution Prevention)

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the proposed charges for the pollution prevention and control regulations have been calculated with regard to poultry farms; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The Environment Agency (EA) is required, in accordance with HM Treasury's guidance and the "polluter pays principle", to recover the full costs of regulation from those it regulates. The EA have worked with the farming sector to develop a straightforward, least-cost approach for farmers. It is for the EA, as the regulator, to assess the level of effort required to meet the pollution prevention and control requirements. In parallel, my Department continues to encourage the EA to demonstrate full transparency on what costs are for. The EA is also being set targets to drive efficiency throughout the organisation and gains will in turn offset charges as appropriate.
	In response to concerns raised by the industry, the EA presented a proposal on subsistence charging in February this year. The EA's proposals were accepted by the British Poultry Council, as well as other intensive livestock trade associations in May. A subsistence charge of £1,471 for an existing small farm and £1,844 for an existing large farm will therefore be charged to the industry from August 2007 until March 2008, provided that the industry stage its applications over the three month application window (from 1 November 2006 to 31 January 2007).
	The annual subsistence fee not only covers the EA's costs for inspections, but also the costs of providing guidance, scheme infrastructure and permit maintenance.

Poultry Farms (Pollution Prevention)

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps have been taken to prevent the spread of Campylobacter through the chicken production chain.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department has been working closely with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to improve our understanding of how Campylobacter infection develops and spreads. We have also considered effective methods for controlling the spread of this bacteria at all levels of the food chain, including controls on farm and best practice guidance in the kitchen.
	For the period 2005-08, DEFRA has committed £2.65 million towards research on the control of Campylobacter and the development of intervention practices to reduce the incidence of the bacteria within poultry production systems. This includes a DEFRA/FSA joint-funded three year survey, starting in 2007, to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter in UK flocks of chicken for meat production.
	A report published by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food in July 2005 concluded that the control of Campylobacter is a practical proposition in housed flocks where producers maintain rigorous biosecurity measures and high flock management standards. As a result, priority action at farm level has focused on the importance of meeting good biosecurity standards. This action reinforces wider food hygiene initiatives in the commercial and domestic food handling settings.
	These research and education projects will help to support the FSA and the poultry industry in meeting their target to achieve a 50 per cent. reduction in the incidence of UK-produced chicken testing positive for Campylobacter by 2010.

Recycled Waste

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department provides to local authorities about sending recyclable waste to be recycled overseas; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: In March 2005, Defra wrote to all waste collection and disposal authorities in England, pressing them to ensure that any waste collected from households is managed in accordance with national, European and international obligations.
	Local authorities should assure themselves that waste that is exported is in compliance with the relevant environmental legislation, including that which applies to waste exports, and the duty of care.
	The Environment Agency has also published a guide on the international shipment of waste, "The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste", which is available from their website: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/ep235tsw_446853.pdf.

Recycled Waste

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities in England operate a compulsory recycling scheme; when each came into force; how much each local authority raised by using compulsory recycling in each year since its scheme came into force; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department does not hold the information requested. It is the responsibility of each local authority to decide how to manage household waste sustainably and meet their targets. We are aware that authorities, such as the London borough of Barnet, are using compulsory recycling schemes. This is to ensure recycling services provided are well used, not to raise revenue.

Rural Payments Agency

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Department has allocated to the Rural Payments Agency, in addition to its agreed annual budget, in each year since 2003-04.

Barry Gardiner: The opening and final allocations for the running costs of the Rural Payments Agency for each year since 2003-04 are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £000 
			   Opening allocation  Final allocation 
			 2003-04(1) 151,649 168,769 
			 2004-05(2) 194,789 219,011 
			 2005-06 210,277 213,210 
			 (1 )RPA's running costs allocation was increased in-year by £16.6 million to reflect the merger with the British Cattle Movement Service.  (2 )Running costs allocation increased in-year by £16.7 million end-year- flexibility (carry forward of underspends incurred in previous years).

Waterways

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment was made of the effects of the reduction in grant in aid for 2006-07 to British Waterways prior to the decision being made; what his most recent assessment is of the effect of the reduction; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: I have consulted closely with the chairman and chief executive of British Waterways about the in-year cut of about 7 per cent. of grant in aid amounting to £3.94 million. They accept that Government have provided £524 million in funding for British Waterways since 2000, of which £452 million was for waterways in England and Wales. Over this period, British Waterways has substantially improved the state of its waterways and has eliminated the safety backlog. It has also concluded substantial regeneration and property projects and facilitated the restoration of some 200 miles of derelict canals. The current assessment of the effect of the reduction in the 2006-07 budgets is that there is likely to be some delay to capital works and set back the date by which British Waterways will be able to reduce year-on-year the requirements for grant in aid from Government.
	I will be meeting the chief executive again and will look further at the implications of the cuts in funding and how British Waterways can continue to contribute to Government priorities.

Whaling

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he will take against Iceland when it resumes commercial whaling.

Ben Bradshaw: The UK will continue to protest at the highest diplomatic level against Iceland's activities. I have called the Icelandic ambassador to my office to explain this decision and to voice our strong opposition to Iceland's commercial whaling. We will continue our efforts, along with other countries, to urge Iceland to reconsider their position and reverse this unjustified and unnecessary decision.

Parliamentary Papers

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many copies of inHouse are produced; at what cost; to whom copies are distributed; how  (a) hon. Members and  (b) staff of hon. Members can obtain copies; if he will (i) arrange for copies to be sent to hon. Members who express an interest in receiving them and (ii) place copies in (A) the Vote Office, (B) the Printed Paper Office and (c) the Library; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: inHouse is the staff magazine of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and is produced five or six times per annum depending on the pattern of the parliamentary year. The current print run is 3,000 copies at a typical net cost of some £6,200 per edition (including VAT). 30 per cent. of this cost is met by the House of Lords. Copies are provided to all current staff of the two Houses including contractors, some retired staff and others (for example those featured in a particular issue). Copies are provided to Members and their staff on request to the editor. As inHouse is not connected to business of the House and is primarily intended for the staff of the two Houses, it would not be appropriate to distribute it via the Vote Office. The Printed Paper Office is a matter for the House of Lords. The Library keeps a reference copy of each edition for use by Members and others.

September Sittings

Frank Doran: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate the Commission has made of the additional costs of the House sitting in September.

Nick Harvey: The works programme for each year is planned to fit with the expected parliamentary timetable. Over the past three years approximately £17 million has been spent in each summer recess on works projects across both Houses, of which approximately 60 per cent. (£10 million) has been in the Commons. The Commission has estimated the effect of a two-week sitting period in September 2006 on the basis that such sittings and the works programme were planned from the previous November.
	If projects in the Palace and in those buildings housing Members stopped work for two weeks, an additional one/two week period would be required for project close down, making safe, then restarting. This means the overall impact on the works programme would equate to a total delay of up to three or four weeks out of the period over the summer recess from the end of July to mid October.
	Assuming that the aim would be to complete most projects in the shorter recess, the overall additional cost of an early September two-week return might be in the order of 15 per cent. (an additional £2.5 million across both Houses or £1.5 million for the Commons) of the cost of recess works in a normal summer. The additional costs would arise primarily from the need to increase evening and weekend working to complete projects more quickly.
	This figure for 2006 is substantially higher than the figure of £90,000 for additional works costs in 2003 and 2004 given in my written answer of 5 July 2006,  Official Report, column 1083W, because it is impossible to determine with any accuracy what the actual costs of alternative contracts might have been. The £90,000 refers only to direct costs incurred in tidying up for the return including the dismantling of scaffolding and essential health and safety issues.
	There are also substantial but unquantifiable long-term costs and risks involved in delaying some projects and not tackling the backlog of maintenance work required for the parliamentary estate. The Parliamentary Estates Board has expressed the view that the Palace structure and infrastructure will need a higher level of maintenance and refurbishment over the next few years to halt further deterioration in its condition. Key elements are the needs for a major overhaul of the cast iron roofs, renewal of much of the internal infrastructure of pipes and cabling, fire compartmentation and automatic fire detection systems, and further stone restoration. It is unlikely that this can be completed effectively if all the work is confined to recesses, whether or not there are September sittings.
	It is not possible meaningfully to identify other additional costs arising from September sittings because major costs including accommodation and staffing continue throughout the year irrespective of whether or not the House is sitting. The overall daily resource cost of running the House administration in 2005-06 was £560,000.
	The cost of the two-day emergency recall in September 1998 was estimated at the time to have cost about £375,000 in works costs. There were other staff costs, mainly for security and some overtime, amounting to £33,200—22 October 1998,  Official Report, column 1189.

Voters Pack

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many copies of the guide to new voters have been  (a) produced and  (b) distributed; by whom this has been done; if he will place copies of the guide in (i) the Vote Office and (ii) the Printed Paper Office; what the cost was per issue to (A) produce and (B) distribute; what consultation with hon. Members was undertaken before publication; how members of the public may obtain copies and at what cost; whether he plans to update this publication; what monitoring of the effectiveness of this publication is being planned; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: Between the launch in July 2006 up to the end of September 2006, a total of 95,756 copies of the Voting Times have been distributed across the United Kingdom to new voters, as they have reached their 18th birthday, at a cost of approximately £1 per recipient.
	Each copy of Voting Times is personalised for the recipient, as research carried out indicated that this was important to maximise the impact of the guide. Because of this personalisation, it is not possible to separate production from distribution costs for the guide. While the House does not hold stocks of Voting Times the content is published electronically on the parliamentary website at http://www.parliament.uk/votingtimes/index.html from where a generic version of the guide may be downloaded or printed.
	Following a resolution of the House on 26 January 2005, the House of Commons Commission was authorised to fund the publication and distribution of a new voters' guide. Draft versions of the guide were tested with young people. The Modernisation and Administration Committees were consulted on the design and content of Voting Times prior to final approval being given by the Commission on 24 April 2006.
	A further programme of research with recipients of the guide is currently under way to determine its effectiveness and any potential areas of improvement. This research will be completed by the new year. In addition, the House of Commons Information Office would welcome suggestions and feedback from hon. Members to improve future versions of the publication.

Departmental Dress Code

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's policy is on the display of religious  (a) artefacts,  (b) symbols and  (c) dress by its staff; how many staff have been subject to disciplinary proceedings regarding this policy in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has no specific policy governing the display of religious artefacts, symbols or dress. No staff have been subject to disciplinary proceedings in relation to the display of religious artefacts, symbols or dress in the last five years. In order to ensure it does not unfairly discriminate on the grounds of religion, the Department widened its diversity employment monitoring categories in June this year to include religion and belief. Guidance on understanding ethnic and religious diversity can be found on the DCMS intranet and on the civil service diversity website:
	www.civilservice.gov.uk/diversity/religion/index.asp.

Departmental IT

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which of her Department's databases are  (a) wholly and  (b) partly operated by external organisations or individuals; and which organisations and individuals own those databases.

David Lammy: My Department has no databases either wholly or partly operated by external organizations or individuals.

Departmental Vacancies

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of vacancies in her Department in the last 12 months required candidates to have at least a grade C in  (a) English and  (b) mathematics GCSE.

David Lammy: In the last 12 months the Department ran one external competition for 18 administrative vacancies where candidates were required to have at least five GCSE's at grade C level or equivalent, one of which had to include English; however mathematics was not stipulated. A further six singleton vacancies advertised externally during the year did not set any minimum educational qualifications.

Digital Switchover

Dennis Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the percentage of households that will qualify for assistance in switching over to digital television in the East Midlands.

Shaun Woodward: The information is not available in the format requested. We estimate that around 510,000 households in the East Midlands will be eligible for the digital switchover help scheme. The details are in the following table.
	
		
			  Category  Number 
			 Households where the eligible person is 75 or over 305,000 
			 Households where the qualifying person qualifies because of eligibility to disability living allowance or attendance allowance 205,000 
			 Total 510,000 
			  Notes: 1. Eligibility for help from the digital switchover help scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. The scheme definition of eligible households mirrors Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) definition of a benefit unit: a couple (which from December 2005 includes gay couples) and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the help scheme in their own right. 2. The estimates use data from the Department for Work and Pensions Client Group Analysis for November 2005 adjusted by changes in future household and benefits growth for the period from 2005 until the date switchover takes place in the relevant area. 3. The figures do not include households where the person qualifying for help under the scheme is registered blind or registered partially sighted who qualify on grounds of registration rather than on grounds of age or entitlement to disability benefits.

Digital Switchover

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the percentage of households that will qualify for assistance in switching over to digital television in the London borough of Bexley.

Shaun Woodward: The information is not available in the format requested. We estimate that around 28,000 households in the London borough of Bexley will be eligible for the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. The details are in the following table.
	
		
			  Category  Number 
			 Households where the eligible person is 75 or over 17,000 
			 Households where the qualifying person qualifies because of eligibility to disability living allowance or attendance allowance 11,000 
			 Total 28,000 
			  Notes:1. Eligibility for help from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. The scheme definition of eligible households mirrors Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) definition of a benefit unit: a couple (which from December 2005 includes gay couples) and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the help scheme in their own right.2. The estimates use data from the Department for Work and Pensions Client Group Analysis for November 2005 adjusted by changes in future household and benefits growth for the period from 2005 until the date switchover takes place in the relevant area.3. The figures do not include households where the person qualifying for help under the scheme is registered blind or registered partially sighted who qualify on grounds of registration rather than on grounds of age or entitlement to disability benefits.

Digital Switchover

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the percentage of households that will qualify for assistance in switching to digital television in the Lancashire region.

Shaun Woodward: The information is not available in the format requested. We estimate that around 191,000 households in Lancashire will be eligible for the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. The details are in the following table.
	
		
			  Category  Number 
			 Households where the eligible person is 75 or over 104,000 
			 Households where the qualifying person qualifies because of eligibility to disability living allowance or attendance allowance 87,000 
			 Total 191,000 
			  Notes:1. Eligibility for help from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. The scheme definition of eligible households mirrors Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) definition of a benefit unit: a couple (which from December 2005 includes gay couples) and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the help scheme in their own right.2. The estimates use data from the Department for Work and Pensions Client Group Analysis for November 2005 adjusted by changes in future household and benefits growth for the period from 2005 until the date switchover takes place in the relevant area.3. The figures do not include households where the person qualifying for help under the scheme is registered blind or registered partially sighted who qualify on grounds of registration rather than on grounds of age or entitlement to disability benefits.

Islam and Muslim Affairs

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what arrangements her Department has in place for offering her advice on Islam and matters relating to Muslims; and who her advisers are on Islam and Muslim affairs.

David Lammy: Where appropriate officials in the relevant policy area provide advice on matters relating to Muslim communities.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government is the lead Department on domestic matters relating to Muslim communities and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the lead Department on international matters. Where appropriate officials seek advice from these Departments.
	The Department has used networks of faith groups in the past to help plan major policies and events, and intends to investigate establishing more permanent networks in various communities in future.

Olympic Games

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Chancellor on his pledge to recruit one million Olympic volunteers; what additional resource will be provided to meet this target; and when she expects to achieve it.

Tessa Jowell: In his speech at the HMRC Corporate and Social Responsibility Conference on 24 October, the Chancellor referred to a separate announcement of 1 million new young volunteers to be recruited by the independent charity v which has already created over 55,000 new volunteering opportunities in just over six months of operation.
	My Department is separately working with the Office for the Third Sector in Cabinet Office on a cross government action plan to ensure that volunteering is embedded into the Olympics as well as its legacy, including support for the London Organising Committee of the Games strategy to recruit 70,000 volunteers needed at the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. 100,000 people have already registered their interest in volunteering at the Games.

Religious Organisations (Grants)

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department has provided in  (a) grant and  (b) non-repayable grant to (i) the Church of England, (ii) Islamic organisations and (iii) other religions in the past five years; who the recipients were of each grant; and what the amount of the grant was in each case.

David Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport makes grants to faith groups via the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme. The scheme returns the equivalent of the VAT incurred in making repairs to listed buildings used primarily for worship. All grants are non-repayable. The amounts disbursed since the start of the scheme in 2001 to the faith groups listed are in the table. Grants to other Christian denominations are excluded from the table.
	
		
			  Faith group  Amounts disbursed (£) 
			 Church of England 35,067,908.75 
			 Islamic Organisations 12,885.78 
			 Jewish 253,344.92 
			 Buddhist 149,734.86 
			 Hindu 7,740.01 
			 Sikh 21,537.70 
		
	
	English Heritage, sponsored by the department, contributes to the Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England scheme, operated and funded jointly with the Heritage Lottery Fund. The scheme funds repairs to listed places of worship. All grants are non-repayable.
	Since the launch of the scheme in April 2002, 1,035 offers have been made over four annual bidding rounds. These offers were made up as follows:
	928 offers totalling £82,778,000 to Church of England congregations;
	no offers to Islamic organisations;
	one offer totalling £175,000 to the Buddhist congregation;
	one offer totalling £116,000 to the Sikh congregation;
	seven offers totalling £881,000 to the Jewish congregations.
	The remaining offers were made to Christian congregations other than those of the Church of England.
	In addition, English Heritage operates a grant scheme for cathedrals, under which around £7 million has been offered in the last five years.

Seaside Piers

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the  (a) condition,  (b) viability and  (c) cultural significance of British seaside piers.

David Lammy: This Department has not carried out an assessment of the condition, viability or cultural significance of English seaside piers. However, English Heritage's Seaside Research Project, to be published in autumn 2007, is assessing the broad historical contribution of the pier to the story of England's seaside. 75 English piers are listed as having special architectural or historic interest, of which two are included in the current English Heritage register of Buildings at Risk.
	Responsibility for piers in Scotland and Wales lies with the relevant devolved Administrations.

Sport England

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1452W, on Sport England, whether she was aware that one of the candidates was personally known to the Minister for Sport when she consulted him on the two candidates recommended for appointment by the interview panel for the post of Chair of Sport England; and what safeguards were put in place to prevent a conflict of interest.

Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1452W. In order to avoid any possible conflict of interest, the Minister for Sport was open with me and officials from the outset about the fact that one of the candidates was personally known to him.

Air Fuel Taxes

Dai Davies: To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the prospects for introduction of EU-wide taxes on kerosene air fuel.

Tony Blair: I have had no recent discussions with EU counterparts on this issue. However, the Government recognize that the exemption of aviation from fuel tax is anomalous, and continues to argue for change on an international level.

Departmental Staff

Harry Cohen: To ask the Prime Minister if his Office will  (a) carry out an age audit of its staff to establish an age profile of its workforce,  (b) negotiate an age management policy with trade unions and employees to eliminate age discrimination and retain older workers,  (c) identify and support training needs and offer older staff flexible working to downshift towards retirement and  (d) extend to over-fifties the right to request to work flexibly and the right to training with paid time off; and if he will make a statement.

Tony Blair: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. McFadden) today.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to oppose a change of Prime Minister in Iraq.

Tony Blair: Prime Minister al-Maliki and his government have our full support. They were chosen by the democratically elected Iraqi Parliament, under the permanent new Iraqi Constitution, which was overwhelmingly endorsed by a national referendum last year.

Overseas Visits

John Maples: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister who is accompanying him at public expense on his forthcoming trip to the Far East; how he will travel on each part of the journey; what the estimated cost is to public funds of the trip for all those travelling; whether he will be entertained at any stage by an  (a) private individual and  (b) organisation in connection with his official duties; and what the objectives of the trip are.

John Prescott: Details of the cost of overseas travel undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more is published annually. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006. Copies of the lists are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
	All Ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the "Ministerial Code" and "Travel by Ministers", copies of which are available in the Library for the reference of Members. All official travel is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the "Civil Service Management Code", a copy of which is also available in the Library for the reference of Members.

Airbus

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what undertakings he has been given by  (a) Airbus UK and  (b) EADS on preserving the jobs of Airbus employees in Wales.

Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced at the press conference following the Airbus ministerial meeting at the Farnborough Airshow on 17 July 2006 that:
	"...EADS, in principle, have agreed: 1—that the original undertakings regarding UK industrial workshare given by EADS to the UK when Airbus was formed in 2000, will survive any shareholding sale;..."
	On 12 October, the co-CEOs of EADS confirmed to us that they would respect these undertakings.
	The Government are working hard to safeguard British interests and will remain in close contact with EADS and Airbus as they work through the implications of ensuring that Airbus remains competitive.

Balance of Payments

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the annual balance of payments surplus or deficit is for  (a) each of the English regions,  (b) Scotland and  (c) Wales.

Alistair Darling: Regional statistics are not available on a balance of payments basis.
	HM Revenue and Customs publish regional data on international trade in goods. Their latest figures for 2005, combining European Union and non-EU trade on an overseas trade statistics basis, are:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Exports of goods  Imports of goods  Difference 
			 United Kingdom 211,756 272,287 (60,531) 
			 
			 North East 8,379 6,270 2,109 
			 North West 19,307 19,618 (310) 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 11,873 12,832 (959) 
			 
			 East Midlands 16,015 13,251 2,764 
			 West Midlands 15,206 19,640 (4,434) 
			 
			 East 19,131 34,357 (15,226) 
			 London 26,371 43,342 (16,971) 
			 South East 32,231 62,897 (30,666) 
			 South West 10,347 11,552 (1,205) 
			 
			 England 158,860 223,758 (64,898) 
			 Wales 8,645 6,394 2,251 
			 Scotland 12,661 9,060 3,601 
			 Northern Ireland 4,614 4,015 599 
			 Unknown 26,975 29,059 (2,084) 
		
	
	These data exclude internal UK trade between regions and countries.
	Partial figures for regional exports of services are included in the DTFs annual publication 'Regional Competitiveness and State of the Regions'. Regional figures for imports of services or for other components of the balance of payments current account are not available.

Corus

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with  (a) Corus and  (b) Tata Industries in respect of (i) the proposed takeover of Corus and (ii) its potential effects on Corus steel plants in the UK.

Margaret Hodge: There have been no meetings with either party to discuss these issues. My officials have been keeping in close touch with developments. As the takeover proposal is now a matter for Corus' shareholders we do not plan to hold any meetings with the companies at this stage.

Counterfeit DVDs

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment he has made of the effect upon legitimate traders of the illegal trade in DVDs; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Although the Government have not made a recent assessment of the specific effect of DVD piracy, we recognise that there is a significant effect on legitimate traders and consumers from counterfeiting and piracy in general. In order to ensure a joined up industry and Government response to counterfeiting and piracy, the Government launched the National IP Crime Strategy in 2004. The Annual Enforcement Report, published by the Patent Office, sets out the range of action being taken by government and industry bodies to tackle this problem.

Departmental Expenditure

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department spent on  (a) the Employment Tribunal Service,  (b) the Insolvency Service,  (c) the Patent Office,  (d) the National Weights and Measures Laboratory and  (e) Companies House; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 24 October 2006
	In 2005-06 the Department's expenditure on the Employment Tribunals Service was £69.023 million, on the Insolvency Service £24.048 million and on the National Weights and Measures Laboratory £2.285 million. The figures for the latter two organisations reflect the Department's contribution, not the full cost of these bodies, which are partly funded by charges for their services.
	Companies House and the Patent Office are trading funds, and in the case of the Patent Office its costs are entirely covered by fee income. The only funding provided by the Department for Companies House was £3.600 million to cover the costs of collecting late filing penalties. All other Companies House costs are met by fee income.

Departmental Redundancies

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library copies of the advice his Department provides to officials on  (a) taking voluntary redundancy and  (b) being made compulsorily redundant; what steps his Department (i) has taken and (ii) plans to take during the next year to reduce spending in his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Staff considering voluntary early departure or who may be made compulsorily redundant are able to access the Cabinet Office pensions website which explains the benefits available under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, and leavers are invited to attend either a pre-retirement course or a course covering job search, setting up a business and pursuing self-employment.
	The Department's strategy is to become a more streamlined, influential, policy-making Department, with delivery through our agencies and arms length bodies. We are constantly looking at providing better value for money and greater efficiency in all our activities, but especially our own running costs. To this end, we are currently looking at how we can use our accommodation and ICT resources most efficiently, as well as examining whether our organisational structure is the most appropriate to deliver on our objectives in the medium term. This work will bring savings next year and in following years, and is being carried out as an integral part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Departmental Travel

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by his Department on  (a) chartering aircraft and  (b) non-scheduled air travel in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: No costs have been incurred by the Department in the last five years on chartering aircraft for internal flights, or on non-scheduled air travel. There is only one instance in the last five years of a DTI Minister using a non-scheduled flight (PQ 20047 213446), and the cost in that case was met by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's Office.
	In respect of overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers, since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Where non-scheduled aircraft are used this is shown in the list. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House for the reference of Members. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the "Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers", copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House for the reference of Members. All official travel is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the "Civil Service Management Code", a copy of which is also available in the Libraries of the House for the reference of Members.

Energy Review

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the expected timetable is for completion of each of the consultations and further studies set out in chapter 9 of the Energy Review, Cm 6887.

Malcolm Wicks: A number of consultations have already been launched and work is under way to take forward the ambitious package of measures as outlined in the Energy Review report. This work will feed into an Energy White Paper next year.
	For further details see the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/index.html.

Energy Technology Institute

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1495, on the Energy Technology Institute, who the  (a) large company,  (b) small and medium size enterprises and  (c) non-governmental organisation who expressed interest were.

Malcolm Wicks: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry published a Prospectus for the Energy Technologies Institute on 14 September. By 11 October the following organisations from Wales had expressed an interest:
	(a) one large company, Corus;
	(b) two SMEs: OpTIC Technium/Optropreneurs Ltd. an IQE plc; and
	(c) one NGO, the Centre for Alternative Technology.
	In addition, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, was mistakenly omitted from the response to my hon. Friend's earlier question.

Farepak

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will investigate the circumstances surrounding the administration of hamper company Farepak.

Malcolm Wicks: I cannot make any comment on the particular case but I do sympathise with any customers who may lose money they have invested with Farepak.
	The company went into administration on 13 October and my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade has already been in contact with the administrators.
	The administrators have a statutory duty report to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if they consider that the conduct of any of the directors makes them unfit to be the directors of a limited company. The Secretary of State then has a discretionary power to seek to have the directors disqualified if it appears to him to be in the public interest. My right hon. Friend hopes hon. Members will appreciate that these are very early days in the administration. If any Member has constituents with concerns about the conduct of the company's affairs, they should contact the administrators.

Farepak

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Farepak; whether the company continued to collect payments from families after being declared bankrupt; and what steps he is taking to assess what lessons can be learnt for the future.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 25 October 2006
	First let me say that I sympathise with any customers who may lose money as a result of this failure of Farepak.
	The company went into administration on 13 October and my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade Investment and Foreign Affairs met the administrators on 21 October to discuss the situation. They told him that they are working hard to establish the extent of the company's liabilities and the whereabouts of any assets.
	The administrators have a statutory duty to report to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if they consider that the conduct of any of the directors makes them unfit to be the directors of a limited company. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State then has a discretionary power to seek to have the directors disqualified if it appears to him to be in the public interest.
	Also, directors do not enjoy absolute immunity from personal liability where a company goes into liquidation. If there is evidence in liquidation cases to indicate that there has been fraudulent or wrongful trading, a liquidator can ask the court to declare that those responsible should make a personal contribution towards the assets of the company.
	My right hon. Friend hopes hon. Members will appreciate that these are very early days in the administration. If any Member has constituents with concerns about the conduct of the company's affairs, they should contact the administrators.
	My right hon. Friend has also asked officials to make further inquiries as to the circumstances of the company's failure.
	My right hon. Friend has been discussing with the British Retail Consortium the possibility of their members making some form of goodwill gesture to the customers of Farepak who have lost the money they had been saving towards Christmas. I am pleased to say that the BRC have accepted in principle this suggestion, given the exceptional circumstances, and are contacting their members to consider further the practical steps required. This will not be a compensation package, and members of the BRC are under no legal obligation to provide any help, but they have had a lot of interest from many large retailers, who are keen to try and do something, and I am grateful to them for their co-operation.

Farepak

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response he has had from the British Retail Consortium to his inquiry about support for those affected by the collapse of Farepak.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 25 October 2006
	I have great sympathy with those people who have lost money they saved over the year as a result of the collapse of Farepak and feel badly let down.
	My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs met with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and administrators of Farepak on 21 October to assess the level of the problem caused by the company going into administration.
	It was a productive meeting and the BRC accepted in principle the idea of a goodwill gesture, given the exceptional circumstances surrounding Christmas. The discussion focused on the numbers of people affected and how he wants to ensure that any package would be simple, not derisory, fraud free, easy to administer at store level and have as much choice as possible for the customers to shop where they want.
	This will not be a compensation package and members of the BRC are under no legal obligation to provide any help but they have had a lot of interest from many large retailers, who are keen to try and do something. The BRC is in discussion with its members so that retailers can decide what they might be able to provide and to consider further the practical steps required to take this matter further.
	My right hon. Friend would like to thank personally both the Administrators and the BRC for their co-operation so far.
	In the meantime, customers who have paid money to Farepak either directly or through an agent should contact the Administrators, BDO Stoy Hayward to register a claim. Contact details are:
	Website: www.farepak.co.uk
	Telephone: 0870 830 6010
	Fax: 01793 606057
	E-mail: customer.claims@farepak.co.uk
	Postal: Farepak Food & Gifts Limited—In Administration
	Kings Wharf
	20-30 Kings Road
	Reading
	RG1 3EX
	Customers should ensure that their payment books are up to date and that they retain the books as evidence of their claim.

Farepak

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received concerning the placing into administration of Farepak Food and Gifts Limited; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: I have great sympathy with those people who have lost money they saved over the year as a result of the collapse of Farepak and feel badly let down. There is wide public interest in this case and that has been reflected in a range of representations from individuals, MPs and business.
	The company went into administration on 13 October. The administrators are required to act in the interests of all of the creditors and should seek the best outcome for them. They also have a statutory duty report to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if they consider that the conduct of any of the directors makes them unfit to be the directors of a limited company. In addition, as the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced to the Trade and Industry Select Committee, an investigation under the Companies Act 1985 is now under way.
	My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs met with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and administrators of Farepak on 21 October to assess the level of the problem caused by the company going into administration.
	It was a productive meeting and the BRC accepted in principle the idea of a goodwill gesture, given the exceptional circumstances surrounding Christmas. The discussion focused on the numbers of people affected and how he wants to ensure that any package would be simple, not derisory, fraud free, easy to administer at store level and have as much choice as possible for the customers to shop where they want.
	This will not be a compensation package and members of the BRC are under no legal obligation to provide any help but they have had a lot of interest from many large retailers, who are keen to try and do something. The BRC is in discussion with its members so that retailers can decide what they might be able to provide and to consider further the practical steps required to take this matter further.
	My right hon. Friend would like to thank personally both the Administrators and the BRC for their co-operation so far.
	In the meantime, customers who have paid money to Farepak either directly or through an agent should contact the Administrators, BDO Stoy Hayward to register a claim. Contact details are:
	Website: www.farepak.co.uk
	Telephone: 0870 830 6010
	Fax: 01793606057
	Email:customer.claims@farepak.co.uk
	Postal:Farepak Food and Gifts Limited—In Administration
	Kings Wharf
	20-30 Kings Road
	Reading RG13EX
	Customers should ensure that their payment books are up to date and that they retain the books as evidence of their claim.

Lancaster Vision Board

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been allocated to Lancaster and Morecambe Vision Board since it was set up.

Margaret Hodge: The North West regional development agency has agreed to provide Lancaster city council with £200,000 in support of Vision Board activity for the period 2004-05 to 2006-07.

Nuclear Power

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he plans to make of which designs of generation III reactors are suitable for pre-licensing assessment.

Malcolm Wicks: The Department is working with the independent nuclear regulators to develop a system for the pre-licensing of generic nuclear power plant designs, in line with the commitments given in the 2006 Energy Review report. Details on these arrangements will be included in the guidance for applicants to be issued in early 2007.

Nuclear Power

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment has been made of the safety of UK nuclear power plants; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: The UK has a robust licensing regime enforced by HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) which places a clear legal duty on the nuclear power plant licensees to ensure that safety is maintained at all times throughout a nuclear plant's operational life and its decommissioning. This requires regular assessments by the licensees which are submitted for regulatory scrutiny by the NII. The NII will not allow the continued operation, or restart of a nuclear reactor unless it is satisfied that it is safe to do so.

Olympic Games

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures his Department is taking to ensure that sufficient radio spectrum will be available to the programme making and special events sector to ensure the smooth running of the 2012 Olympics; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 19 October 2006
	. The Government were required to provide guarantees to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the availability of spectrum as part of the London bid to stage the games. DTI officials are therefore working with the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the independent regulator of communications, responsible for managing civil radio spectrum in the UK including the allocation and licensing of frequency bands used by programme making and special events to ensure that sufficient and suitable spectrum is available to meet the essential requirements of users at the 2012 Olympics.

Retirement Age

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 12 October 2006,  Official Report, column 867W, on retirement age, what the evidential basis was for the decision to impose a national default retirement age of 65 years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Our decision to provide for a default retirement age of 65 took into account evidence from a number of sources including responses to extensive consultations—'Towards Equality and Diversity in 2002', and 'Age Matters' in 2003—and research conducted on behalf of the Department.

Retirement Age

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his Department's review of the default retirement age, 
	(1)  on what basis decisions were made to allow working beyond aged 65;
	(2)  if he will increase the size of the sample used to assess the effectiveness of the default retirement age over the next five years;
	(3)  what evidence he examined from other countries on developing his Department's policy on a compulsory retirement age.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 introduce a default retirement age of 65 together with procedures whereby the employee has a right to request that he or she be allowed to continue in work beyond the employer's normal retirement age. The employer has a duty to consider this request, and if both the employer and employee agree then the employee can continue in work. This will move towards a culture where a retirement decision is influenced by the individual circumstances and preferences of employers and employees, rather than an assumption about the norm. These arrangements were introduced in order to deliver the Government's labour market objectives recognising the need for workforce planning and avoiding adverse impact on the provision of occupational pensions and other work-related benefits.
	In March this year we published the Survey of Employers' Policies, Practices, and Preferences Relating to Age that will provide the baseline for assessing the impact of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. Once the legislation has bedded in, we intend to carry out a follow-up survey, to inform the review of the default retirement age in 2011. We will also explore, with the Office for National Statistics and the Department for Work and Pensions, the process for collating better statistical data on employee retirement intentions and behaviour.
	The default retirement age has been developed as a result of extensive consultation. We have been interested in how other countries have approached age discrimination and seeing what lessons we could draw on. However, we have developed legislation that is right for Britain and which takes into account our own particular domestic and economic circumstances.

UK Competitiveness

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the competitiveness of  (a) South Korea and  (b) the United Kingdom in terms of (i) educational attainment, (ii) levels of profit reinvested in research and development and (iii) improvement of skills levels through further and higher education.

Jim Fitzpatrick: For international comparisons of educational attainment and skill levels, the main source of comparable international data is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance'. The most recent statistics available are for 2004 and the relevant figures for the United Kingdom and Korea are presented in the following table.
	
		
			  Educational attainment of the adult (aged 25-64) population, 2004 
			   Percentage of the adult population with their highest qualification classified as: 
			   Low  Intermediate  High 
			 United Kingdom 35 36 29 
			 Korea 26 44 30 
			  Source:  OECD Education at a Glance 2006. Low, intermediate and high are derived from the International Standard Classification of Education. Low relates to the successful completion of compulsory schooling with the skills required for further study; intermediate skills prepare an individual for higher education; high skills are degree or equivalent qualifications. 
		
	
	For R and D, data collected by the Office for National Statistics from the UK Business Enterprise R and D Survey shows that in 2004, £13.5 billion was spent on R and D performed within UK businesses. This represents 1.15 per cent. of gross domestic product. The OECD reports the equivalent business enterprise R and D statistics for Korea.
	
		
			  Business Enterprise R and D as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) 
			   UK  Korea 
			 2000 1.20 1.77 
			 2001 1.23 1.97 
			 2002 1.24 1.90 
			 2003 1.23 2.00 
			 2004 1.15 2.19 
			  Source:  ONS (UK) and OECD (Korea)

UK Trade and Investment

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent by the Government on UK Trade and Investment in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Darling: The published accounts for UK Trade and Investment, formerly British Trade International, show the spend (net resource outturn) over the past five years as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  £000 
			 2001-02 257,121 
			 2002-03 278,863 
			 2003-04 288,705 
			 2004-05 285,672 
			 2005-06 284,396 
		
	
	UKTI is a joint operation of the FCO as well as the DTI, and the expenditure figures above include directly managed programme funds as well as administration costs funded by DTI and FCO.

Vision Boards

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria are used for the selection of representatives for the vision boards set up by the North West Regional Development Agency.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 24 October 2006
	There are no strict criteria for the selection of representatives on to the Vision Boards, although the North West Regional Development Agency recommends appointment of a private sector chair, and good private sector representation. The composition of the board is ultimately agreed locally; therefore membership is a matter for each individual board.

Watson Burton Solicitors

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many  (a) vibration white finger and  (b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases have been settled by Watson Burton solicitors; and how much has been received in costs by that firm for processing each kind of case.

Malcolm Wicks: The number of cases of payment for vibration white finger (VWF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) settled by Watson Burton solicitors, and the costs paid to Watson Burton are set out in the following table:
	
		
			   Number of claims settled by payment  Solicitors costs paid on claims settled by payment (£ million) 
			 VWF 3,294 2.8 
			 COPD 11,137 24.6

Iraq

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost has been to the UK of all military operations in Iraq since April 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: The cost of operations are calculated on a net additional basis and audited figures are published each year in the MOD's annual report and accounts. The annual audited figure for the costs of operations in Iraq for the year 2005-06 were £958 million.

Departmental Project Approvals

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which  (a) category A,  (b) category B and  (c) category C projects of his Department have received (i) Initial Gate and (ii) Main Gate approval since 1 November 2004; and when approval was received in each case.

Adam Ingram: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Category A Initial Gate Projects 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 10 December 2004 Munitions Acquisition Supply Solution 24 November 2005 Chinook T55 Capability Sustainment and Future Support Programme 
			 28 April 2005 UK Intelligence Web and SCOPE connection 27 June 2006 Future Transport Aircraft (A400M) Support 
			 18 May 2005 Nimrod Future Support 19 July 2006 Defence Logistics Organisation/Defence Procurement Agency Collocation 
			 27 July 2005 Maritime Air Surveillance and Control 27 July 2006 Programme to Rationalise and Integrate Defence Intelligence Service Estate (PRIDE) 
			 l August 2005 Future Rotorcraft Capability   
		
	
	
		
			  Category A Main Gate Projects 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 13 December 2004 Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) DII(F) (Approval for Initial Work) 8 September 2005 Defence Estates Regional Prime Contracting—Central 
			 l February 2005 Defence Estates Regional Prime Contracting—South East 8 November 2005 Defence Housing Executive—Prime Contract 
			 9 February 2005 Sea King Integrated Operational Support 9 November 2005 Defence Estates Regional Prime Contracting—East 
			 24 February 2005 Offshore Patrol Vessel (Helicopter) 21 December 2005 Future Carrier (Demonstration Phase) 
			 25 February 2005 Typhoon (Tranche 2) 7 February 2006 Chinook Future Support 
			 4 March 2005 Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) (Contractor Downselect and Main Investment) 10 February 2006 Future Provision of Marine Services 
			 15 March 2005 Project PICASSO (Increment 1) 24 February 2006 Merlin Future Support Programme (IMOS—Integrated Merlin Operational Support) 
			 19 April 2005 Human Resources Service Delivery Organisation 9 March 2006 Combined Aerial Target Service 
			 20 April 2005 Tornado Future Support Programme (ATTAC) 28 March 2006 Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme 
			 14 July 2005 Future Military Aviation Radar Service 4 April 2006 Defence Medical Information Capability Programme 
			 20 July 2005 Future Defence Supply Chain Initiative 04 April 2006 Project FALCON 
			 21 July 2005 Northwood PFI 31 May 2006 Hercules Future Support Project 
			 22 July 2005 Watchkeeper 08 June 2006 Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopter/Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft 
			 31 July 2006 MOD Estates London 20 July 2006 C-17 Strategic Airlift (Lease Buy Out) 
			 2 August 2006 Advanced Jet Trainer   
		
	
	
		
			  Category B Initial Gate Projects 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 3 November 2004 Defence Travel Modernisation (DTM) 5 October 2005 Tornado GR4/4a Collision Warning System 
			 7 December 2004 Project Eagle 17 November 2005 Gnome Engine Future Support Project 
			 24 January 2005 Project Hyperion—Land and Adjutant General collocation and estate rationalisation 17 November 2005 RTM 322 Engine Future Support Project 
			 5 August 2005 Material Flow—Management of Joint Deployed Inventory (MJDI) 4 May 2006 Tornado Capability Upgrade Strategy 
			 9 August 2005 Rapier Support 28 July 2006 Project DMETA/MMA (Defence Medical Training Agency—Midlands Medical Accommodation) 
			 9 August 2005 High Velocity Missile Support 19 September 2006 Personal Equipment and Common Operational Clothing 
		
	
	
		
			  Category B Main Gate Projects 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 22 November 2004 Improved 105mm Light Gun Ammunition 18 July 2005 Joint UAV Experimental Programme 
			 4 January 2005 Secondary Healthcare Germany 21 December 2005 Tornado Future Support Programme RB199 (ROCET) 
			 5 January 2005 Defence Academy Shrivenham Campus Integrator 17 July 2006 Project PICASSO (Increment 2) 
			 26 January 2005 Defence Resource Management Programme Increment 4 25 January 2006 Anti-Structures Munition 
			 3 May 2005 Defence Academy Shrivenham Academic Provider 25 July 2006 C-17 Strategic Airlift (5th Aircraft) 
			 l June 2005 Oracle Enterprise Agreement 3 August 2006 J1/J4 Interim Op Support—Interim fit (raised to Cat B for Main Gate due to cost) 
			 2 June 2005 AS90 Equipment Support Project   
		
	
	
		
			  Category C Initial Gate Projects( 1) 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 14 January 2005 UK Integrated Broadcast Service 10 May 2006 UK Air Surveillance Command and Control System 
			 19 May 2005 DNA(2)—T23 Frigate Command System Update 5 June 2006 Computer Network Defence (CND) 
			 24 May 2005 Digital Diagnosis Repair 8 August 2006 Joint Command and Control Support Programme (JC2SP) Application Migration Project 
			 1l July 2005 Surveillance Systems and Range Finding 17 August 2006 Project Listener 
			 16 November 2005 J1/J4 Interim Op Support—Interim fit 11 September 2006 Small Arms Range Targetry Systems 
		
	
	
		
			  Category C Main Gate Projects( 2) 
			  Date of approval  Name of project  Date of approval  Name of project 
			 17 December 2004 Army Training and Recruitment Agency -Digitised Classroom Project 23 June 2006 Command, Control and Information System for Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps 
			 22 December 2004 Armed Forces Compensation Scheme 26 July 2006 DNA(2)—T23 Frigate Command System Update 
			 21 February 2005 Defence Fixed Telecommunications System (Cyprus) 25 August 2006 Dismounted Counter Mine Capability 
			 13 May 2005 Temporary Deployed Accommodation l September 2006 Project CUTLASS 
			 26 August 2005 Maritime Composite Training System 11 September 2006 JC2SP Interoperability Project 
			 7 September 2005 Defensive Anti-Surface Warfare   
			 (1) One project has been excluded from the list as it relates to Special Forces.(2) Three projects have been excluded from the list as they relate to Special Forces.

Far East War Prisoners

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have been  (a) paid,  (b) refused and  (c) are awaiting a decision on payments under the Far East Prisoners of War Ex-Gratia Payments Scheme (i) in total, (ii) under the blood link criterion and (iii) under the 20 year rule.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 23 October 2006
	The position as at 20 October 2006 is as follows:
	
		
			   Claims paid  Rejected  Awaiting decision 
			 
			 Total claims (includes both Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees) 25,293 6,880 369 
			 Civilian claims considered under the 20-year UK Residence criterion(1) 86 0 87 
			 Civilian claims considered under the Birthlink criterion(1) 1,186 (2, 3)1,194 3 
			 (1) Military claims are considered under separate criteria with respect to definition of the required close link to the United Kingdom.(2) Rejections under the Birthlink criterion include cases where the claimant: was not British; or failed to meet either the initial criterion based on eligibility under the1950s scheme that made payments from liquidated Japanese assets or the Birthlink criterion introduced in March 2001; or did not provide evidence to show that he or she was interned in a recognised camp.(3) Since March 2006, a number of these rejections have been eligible for reconsideration under the 20-year UK residence criterion and a number have claimed and received an award; the precise number affected in this way is not known since we do not routinely collect information on the Birthlink criterion; however, we would expect most of the 86 claims accepted under the 20-year UK residence criterion to have been rejected previously and further consideration of claims under this criterion are expected to reduce the number of rejections further.

Fischer-Trope Process

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of powering military platforms with green fuels made by the Fischer-Trope process.

Adam Ingram: The MOD is closely engaged with major oil companies, original equipment manufacturers and the scientific and technical community to further the use of non-fossil fuels.
	As part of this ongoing work, the MOD is currently assessing the utility, compatibility and availability of fuels produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process for a range of military platforms. The Department led the way in the international aviation fuels community on the introduction of synthetic fuels, from specific sources, into the technical specification for aviation fuels.

Sponsored Students

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many students were subsidised to attend university with the aim of recruitment to the armed forces in each of the last five years, broken down by service; what the cost was; and how these data are recorded.

Derek Twigg: The number of university bursaries awarded, and their associated costs, in each of the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  Sponsorship  Number awarded  Total cost (£000) 
			  Naval service
			 2002-03 Bursary 58 174 
			  Cadetship 8 9 
			 2003-04 Bursary 58 631 
			  Cadetship 7 28 
			 2004-05 Bursary 47 548 
			  Cadetship 2 19 
			 2005-06 Bursary 36 465 
			  Cadetship 2 12 
			 2006-07(i) Bursary 48 424 
			  Cadetship 2 (1)— 
			 
			  Army
			 2002-03 Bursary 230 946 
			  Cadetship 53 1,841 
			 2003-04 Bursary 224 999 
			  Cadetship 56 2,084 
			 2004-05 Bursary 228 1,070 
			  Cadetship 50 2,009 
			 2005-06 Bursary 178 907 
			  Cadetship 57 2,337 
			 2006-07(i) Bursary 124 560 
			  Cadetship 29 1,352 
			 
			  RAF
			 2002-03 Bursary 289 604 
			  Cadetship 51 71 
			 2003-04 Bursary 286 653 
			  Cadetship 55 51 
			 2004-05 Bursary 218 566 
			  Cadetship 71 50 
			 2005-06 Bursary 210 556 
			  Cadetship 59 52 
			 2006-07(2) Bursary 113 331 
			  Cadetship 36 8 
			 (1 )Not yet known.  (2 )Figures for financial year 2006-07 show the position as at 30 September 2006. 
		
	
	The officer entry section of the Admiralty Interview Board maintains records of all recipients of RN Bursaries who are also supported while at university either by the university training officer or by the Defence technical undergraduate scheme.
	The Army's direct entry bursary is worth £1,000 per year at university plus a £3,000 lump sum at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
	All RAF data on bursaries is captured on a database at RAF Cranwell.

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  what the  (a) present and  (b) future retirement age arrangements are for each public sector pension scheme for which her Department has responsibility; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what the current  (a) accrual rate and  (b) normal retirement age is for each public sector pension scheme for which her Department is responsible; and if she will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: The Principal Civil Service Pension scheme is in two sections. Section 1—the "2002 section"—is referred to as the premium scheme and has a pension accrual rate of 1/60th. Section 2—the "1972 section" is referred to as the classic scheme. Classic has a pension accrual rate of 1/80th plus a lump sum accrual rate of 3/80th.
	The current normal pension age for members of both schemes is 60. However, some prison officers who are members of classic have a normal pension age of 55.
	In line with the principles agreed with the trade unions at the Public Services Forum in 2005, a new pension scheme will be introduced for new entrants to the civil service which will have a pension age of 65.

Ineffective Trials

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many ineffective trials were recorded in  (a) magistrates courts and  (b) Crown courts in Cambridgeshire in each quarter since June 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: The number of ineffective trials recorded in the magistrates courts for each quarter since June 2001 are as follows:
	
		
			   Cambridgeshire  England and Wales 
			 July-September 2001 n/a n/a 
			 October-December 2001 n/a n/a 
			 January-March 2002 n/a n/a 
			 April-June 2002 92 12,544 
			 July-September 2002 91 12,577 
			 October-December 2002 99 12,685 
			 January-March 2003 64 13,226 
			 April-June 2003 80 12,340 
			 July-September 2003 93 13,308 
			 October-December 2003 69 13,502 
			 January-March 2004 81 13,637 
			 April -June 2004 54 12,831 
			 July-September 2004 51 12,431 
			 October-December 2004 58 11,475 
			 January-March 2005 67 10,493 
			 April -June 2005 72 10,083 
			 July-September 2005 72 9,775 
			 October-December 2005 57 9,283 
			 January-March 2006 62 9,922 
			 April-June 2006 59 8,247 
		
	
	Ineffective trial data prior to June 2002 was not collected in the magistrates courts. In Cambridgeshire based on the aforementioned figures, performance since quarter ending June 2002 has improved by 35.8 per cent.
	The number of ineffective trials recorded in the Crown courts for each quarter since June 2001 are as follows:
	
		
			   Cambridgeshire  England and Wales 
			 July-September 2001 27 3,239 
			 October-December 2001 31 3,169 
			 January-March 2002 32 3,056 
			 April-June 2002 24 3,131 
			 July-September 2002 45 3,290 
			 October-December 2002 46 3,166 
			 January-March 2003 28 3,227 
			 April-June 2003 20 2,910 
			 July-September 2003 20 2,871 
			 October-December 2003 20 2,358 
			 January-March 2004 19 2,431 
			 April-June 2004 4 1,912 
			 July-September 2004 13 1,905 
			 October-December 2004 14 1,644 
			 January-March 2005 16 1,514 
			 April-June 2005 18 1,330 
			 July-September 2005 14 1,266 
			 October-December 2005 13 1,199 
			 January-March 2006 17 1,222 
			 April-June 2006 14 1,069 
		
	
	Cambridgeshire performance based on the aforementioned figures has improved since quarter ending September 2001 by 48.1 per cent.
	Reducing the ineffective trial rate is a key supporting indicator in ensuring that more offences are brought to justice and provides evidence of our drive to improve the quality of service to victims and witnesses. Nationally, the CJS has reduced the ineffective rate in the magistrates court by 34.3 per cent. and in the Crown court by 67 per cent. Over the last four years this has cut waste in the CJS by £84 million.

International GCSE

Nick Gibb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether her Department recognises the International GCSE as an acceptable substitute for a GCSE for the purposes of recruitment.

Harriet Harman: My Department recognises international GCSE's as an acceptable substitute for GCSE's for the purposes of recruitment.

Magistrates Courts

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which magistrates courts have  (a) closed and  (b) opened in each of the last 20 years.

Harriet Harman: Up until 1 April 2005 magistrates courts were the responsibility of locally managed Magistrates Courts Committees who were statutorily independent. They were not required by statute to inform the Department of any magistrates courts closures that were not subject to an appeal under Section 56 (3) of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997 (now repealed).
	The following tables detail the magistrates court closures and openings that the Department has been notified of since 1995.
	
		
			  (a) Magistrates courts closed since 1995 
			   Courthouse closed 
			 1995 Nottingham (Guildhall) 
			  Nottingham (Sand Field House) 
			  Bala 
			  Hunstanton 
			  Pembroke 
			  Tywn 
			  Whitminster 
			   
			 1996 Bromley (South Street) 
			  Mansfield (Commercial Street) 
			  Hornsea 
			  Howden 
			  Market Weighton 
			  Old Street 
			  Halstead 
			  Biddulph 
			  Kidsgrove 
			  Cheadle 
			  Tonbridge 
			  Amlwch 
			  Colwyn Bay 
			  Bedale 
			  Easingwold 
			  East Dereham 
			  Bleanau Festiniog 
			  Ingleton 
			  Leyburn 
			  Llangollen 
			  Thirsk 
			   
			 1997 Ellesmere Port 
			  Hampstead 
			  Marylebone 
			  Otley 
			  Seaham 
			  Bromsgrove 
			  Ledbury 
			  Hebburn 
			  South Shields (Kepple Street) 
			  Chippenham (Market Place) 
			  Ashton Under Lyne (Manchester Road) 
			  Duckinsfield 
			  Thorne 
			  Pontardawe 
			  Braintree 
			  Stokeley 
			  Clacton on Sea 
			  Bargoed 
			  Monmouth 
			  Pontlttyn 
			  Pontypool 
			   
			 1998 Malton 
			  Marlborough Street 
			  Bishop's Stortford 
			  Hatfield 
			  Hitchin 
			  Market Rasen 
			  Chertsey 
			  Farnham 
			  Oxted 
			  Lutterworth 
			  Ripon 
			  Barnard Castle 
			  Clerkenwell 
			  Sheerness 
			  West Malling 
			  Lytham 
			  Diss 
			  Corwen 
			  Felixstowe 
			  Haverhill 
			  Saxmundam 
			  Stowmarket 
			  Newmarket 
			  March 
			  Saffron Walden 
			   
			 1999 Christchurch 
			  Abingdon 
			  Henley on Thames 
			  Windsor 
			  Morley 
			  Pudsey 
			  Stow on the Wold 
			   
			 2000 Ampthill 
			  Biggleswade 
			  Dunstable 
			  Leighton Buzzard 
			  Lichfield 
			  Keighley 
			  Keswick 
			  Windermere 
			  Wigton 
			  Appleby 
			  Gravesend 
			  Wootton Bassett 
			  Abergele 
			   
			 2001 Alfreton 
			  Ashbourne 
			  Bakewell 
			  Matlock 
			  Leigh 
			  Middleton 
			  Leek 
			  Worcester 
			  Warrington Patten Hall 
			  Macclesfield Park Green 
			  Bideford 
			  Exmouth 
			  Kingsbridge 
			  South Molton 
			  Teignmouth 
			  Tavistock 
			  Axminster 
			  Tiverton 
			  Newquay 
			  Southampton (Commercial Road) 
			  Womborne 
			  Gillingham 
			  Bridlington 
			  Brough 
			  Driffield 
			  Hull (Guildhall) 
			  Hull (Lowgate) 
			  Pocklington 
			  Withensea 
			  Arundel 
			   
			 2002 Bridgenorth 
			  Leominster 
			  Fakenham 
			  Tunbridge Wells 
			  Beaconsfield 
			  Buckingham 
			  Evesham 
			   
			 2003 Thame 
			  Droitwitch 
			  Machynlleth 
			  Chester Le Street 
			  Rugeley 
			  Lampeter 
			  Tenby 
			  Camberley 
			  Trowbridge 
			  Whitchurch 
			  Long Sutton 
			  Caistor 
			  Horncastle 
			   
			 2004 Richmond, Yorks 
			  Stourbridge 
			   
			 2006 Wetherby 
			  Bow Street 
		
	
	
		
			  (b) Magistrates courts opened since 1995 
			   Courthouse opened 
			 1995 Newham 
			  Shrewsbury 
			  Rhondda 
			  Barrow 
			  Bexley 
			  Milton Keynes 
			  Bromley 
			   
			 1996 Mansfield 
			  Lyndhurst 
			  Tottenham 
			  Grantham 
			  Swindon 
			  Greenwich 
			  Nottingham 
			  Oswestry 
			  St. Helens 
			   
			 1997 York 
			  St. Albans 
			  Stevenage 
			  Skegness 
			   
			 1998 West London 
			  Ashton Under Lyne 
			  Birmingham (youth court) 
			  South Shields 
			  Chippenham 
			   
			 2001 Hereford 
			  Kidderminster 
			  Beverley 
			  Bridlington 
			   
			 2002 Worcester 
			  Southampton 
			  Hull 
			   
			 2003 Haverfordwest 
			  Redditch 
			   
			 2004 Manchester 
			  Derby 
			  Chesterfield 
			  Nuneaton 
			   
			 2005 Worle

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what savings estimate she has made of the effect on costs of the reforms to public sector pensions agreed with trades unions in 2005 in each year between 2006-07 and 2050-51; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what the current estimate is of the unfunded liability, in present value terms, of each public sector pension scheme for which her Department is responsible; and on what assumptions for  (a) discount rate and  (b) longevity the estimate is based;
	(3)  what recent estimate she has made of the  (a) rate and  (b) annual cost of employer contributions in each public sector pension scheme for which her Department has responsibility; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: I refer the hon. member to my previous answer of 23 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1653W.

Burglary

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries there were in  (a) 2003-04,  (b) 2004-05 and  (c) 2005-06 to date in (i) North Yorkshire, (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber Region and (iii) England and Wales in (A) domestic and (B) commercial properties.

Tony McNulty: The available information is given in the following table. Statistics specifically for commercial premises are not available. Such offences are included in the 'Burglary in a building other than a dwelling' offence classification and cannot be separately identified.
	
		
			  Offences of burglary recorded by the police 
			  Number of offences 
			   Period 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			  North Yorkshire
			 Burglary in a dwelling 4,936 2,931 2,623 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 6,126 4,836 4,709 
			 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber region
			 Burglary in a dwelling 58,928 40,206 36,564 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 62,247 46,969 46,520 
			 
			  England and Wales
			 Burglary in a dwelling 402,345 321,461 300,555 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 417,668 359,621 344,563

Burglary

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries there have been in  (a) 2003-04,  (b) 2004-05 and  (c) 2005-06 to date in (i) Chorley and (ii) Lancashire and the North West in (A) domestic and (B) commercial properties.

Tony McNulty: The available information is given in the following table. Statistics specifically for commercial premises are not available. Such offences are included in the 'Burglary in a building other than a dwelling' offence classification and cannot be separately identified.
	
		
			  Offences of burglary recorded by the police 
			  Number of offences 
			   Period 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			  Chorley
			 Burglary in a dwelling 479 338 299 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 506 509 468 
			 
			  Lancashire
			 Burglary in a dwelling 8,821 6,695 6,184 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 10,750 9,579 8,445 
			 
			  North West Region
			 Burglary in a dwelling 66,922 50,553 47,041 
			 Burglary in a building other than a dwelling 61,797 51,937 49,225

Departmental Contracts

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value is of his Department's contracts with  (a) ER Consultants and  (b) Praesta in each of the last three years; and which Ministers have made use of the services in each case.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 7 September 2006
	The value of the Department's contracts with  (a) ER Consultants and  (b) Praesta in each of the last three years is as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  ER consultants  Praesta 
			 2004-05 51,688 0 
			 2005-06 291,831 96,938 
			 2006-07 (1)0 (1)42,676 
			 (1)To date. 
		
	
	Ministers have not made use of the services provided by either company.

Drinking Offences

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) arrests and  (b) prosecutions for (i) being drunk and disorderly, (ii) being found drunk on a highway, public place or on licensed premises and (iii) being drunk in or when entering a designated sports event there have been in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Data from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offences requested, in England and Wales from 1997-2004 are provided Table 1. The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
	In addition to this, the penalty notice for disorder (pnd) scheme was introduced in England and Wales in 2004. Under the scheme, the police are able to issue to persons suspected of committing specified minor offences, including (i) being found drunk in a highway, public place or licensed premises, and (ii) drunk and disorderly with a fixed penalty notice. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability to conviction for the offence. Data on the number of pnds issued for these offences in 2004 and 2005 can be found in Table 2.
	
		
			  Number of PNDs issued to offenders aged 16 and over, for selected offences England 
			   DA06 drunk and disorderly  DB05 drunk in a highway 
			  Police force area  2004  2005  2004  2005 
			 Avon and Somerset 176 286 22 92 
			 Bedfordshire 144 265 13 43 
			 Cambridgeshire 189 357 34 90 
			 Cheshire 409 190 13 13 
			 Cleveland 368 722 2 — 
			 Cumbria 403 657 7 21 
			 Derbyshire 372 558 9 13 
			 Devon and Cornwall 988 1,519 158 195 
			 Dorset 82 127 2 2 
			 Durham 441 762 17 21 
			 Essex 714 634 24 38 
			 Gloucestershire 282 320 10 31 
			 Greater Manchester 333 491 31 82 
			 Hampshire 1,074 967 73 79 
			 Hertfordshire 208 319 9 30 
			 Humberside 604 679 1 5 
			 Kent 498 1,514 45 89 
			 Lancashire 2,869 4,651 79 105 
			 Leicestershire 67 79 6 12 
			 Lincolnshire 174 71 7 7 
			 London, City of 32 101 3 12 
			 Merseyside 2,728 3,619 20 55 
			 Metropolitan 4,081 3,058 1,159 930 
			 Norfolk 79 93 34 56 
			 North Yorkshire 373 697 106 113 
			 Northamptonshire 246 618 12 39 
			 Northumbria 126 1,426 3 9 
			 Nottinghamshire 477 661 8 9 
			 South Yorkshire 1,590 2,261 10 9 
			 Staffordshire 452 380 52 74 
			 Suffolk 267 377 35 27 
			 Surrey 80 278 25 123 
			 Sussex 1,029 1,419 65 143 
			 Thames Valley 396 258 7 74 
			 Warwickshire 250 123 8 4 
			 West Mercia 141 423 10 27 
			 West Midlands 1,580 1,664 100 94 
			 West Yorkshire 923 1,961 105 93 
			 Wiltshire 346 311 63 71 
			 Dyfed Powys 183 315 37 103 
			 Gwent 127 222 22 9 
			 North Wales 639 1,173 14 33 
			 South Wales 69 432 37 63 
			 England and Wales 26,609 37,038 2,497 3,138 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for selected offences related to drunkenness, by police force area, England and Wales 1997-2004( 1,2) 
			  Statute: Licensing Act 1872 Sec 12 
			  Offence: Being found drunk in a highway or other Public place whether a building or not, or a licensed premises 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			  Police force area  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			 Avon and Somerset 61 52 63 51 92 83 83 75 
			 Bedfordshire 53 47 153 149 94 88 52 50 
			 Cambridgeshire 36 30 31 29 37 36 44 43 
			 Cheshire 69 60 63 58 48 45 34 31 
			 City of London 5 1 1  1 1 6 5 
			 Cleveland 4 3 13 13 ? ? 2 2 
			 Cumbria 38 34 36 34 22 19 13 11 
			 Derbyshire 38 35 42 38 46 35 64 63 
			 Devon and Cornwall 284 251 300 272 331 312 249 229 
			 Dorset 12 11 14 10 18 16 28 26 
			 Durham 23 17 39 31 38 27 22 17 
			 Essex 227 200 209 185 169 140 137 124 
			 Gloucestershire 53 48 90 86 56 53 34 32 
			 Greater Manchester 7 7 14 10 9 9 3 3 
			 Hampshire 346 303 481 444 346 322 232 209 
			 Hertfordshire 20 20 47 46 65 58 42 38 
			 Humberside 11 11 12 12 14 12 6 5 
			 Kent 155 129 145 138 145 130 148 133 
			 Lancashire 213 181 213 188 188 159 248 228 
			 Leicestershire ? ? 1 1 6 6 4 4 
			 Lincolnshire 34 29 49 41 26 24 25 24 
			 Merseyside 44 41 46 35 38 36 34 28 
			 Metropolitan Police 253 217 286 256 244 216 160 130 
			 Norfolk 65 60 65 61 68 64 67 58 
			 North Yorkshire 81 72 94 86 85 76 133 121 
			 Northamptonshire 6 6 6 6 6 4 7 7 
			 Northumbria 21 16 28 23 41 34 23 22 
			 Nottinghamshire 1 ? 8 7 6 6 3 3 
			 South Yorkshire 18 16 12 10 21 17 32 28 
			 Staffordshire 81 67 70 63 41 41 12 12 
			 Suffolk 108 104 81 77 97 95 72 69 
			 Surrey 91 72 97 89 108 94 119 106 
			 Sussex 226 208 226 189 130 116 81 67 
			 Thames Valley 214 186 246 215 207 180 173 153 
			 Warwickshire 8 8 98 11 17 14 9 9 
			 West Mercia 97 80 64 52 73 64 19 17 
			 West Midlands 61 45 51 40 29 23 19 16 
			 West Yorkshire 46 35 103 81 67 49 70 43 
			 Wiltshire 68 65 73 67 65 62 48 43 
			 Dyfed-Powys 92 78 152 130 134 116 138 128 
			 Gwent 21 15 25 24 21 21 25 17 
			 North Wales 17 8 13 10 14 12 7 7 
			 South Wales 113 102 241 215 250 219 251 232 
			 England and Wales 3,421 2,970 4,101 3,583 3,513 3,134 2,978 2,668 
		
	
	
		
			   2001  2002  2003  2004 
			  Police force area  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against 
			 Avon and Somerset 72 70 84 77 84 71 91 88 
			 Bedfordshire 31 27 20 19 47 38 28 20 
			 Cambridgeshire 51 47 51 47 71 68 47 44 
			 Cheshire 18 17 23 22 24 22 13 12 
			 City of London 1 ? ? ? ? ? 2 2 
			 Cleveland 3 3 2 1 3 3 3 3 
			 Cumbria 17 16 15 14 8 8 20 19 
			 Derbyshire 60 52 52 46 40 37 11 11 
			 Devon and Cornwall 215 189 228 204 185 179 106 93 
			 Dorset 12 9 12 11 15 12 11 9 
			 Durham 45 40 20 19 6 6 7 5 
			 Essex 114 99 52 44 12 11 13 11 
			 Gloucestershire 35 29 34 30 20 17 14 13 
			 Greater Manchester 8 8 4 1 10 8 4 4 
			 Hampshire 164 154 127 118 71 61 57 50 
			 Hertfordshire 31 27 18 17 18 18 17 16 
			 Humberside 3 3 4 4 5 5 2 2 
			 Kent 142 127 154 136 153 140 123 107 
			 Lancashire 182 159 177 158 69 63 35 29 
			 Leicestershire — — 2 2 — — — — 
			 Lincolnshire 11 8 15 15 10 10 9 9 
			 Merseyside 39 26 29 23 18 15 8 6 
			 Metropolitan Police 304 265 185 160 141 118 113 97 
			 Norfolk 58 49 57 55 72 61 40 37 
			 North Yorkshire 136 120 143 128 120 111 53 45 
			 Northamptonshire 1 1 9 8 3 2 4 4 
			 Northumbria 10 9 12 12 9 7 17 17 
			 Nottinghamshire 10 9 9 9 12 12 — — 
			 South Yorkshire 13 12 8 6 5 4 13 12 
			 Staffordshire 17 15 15 12 34 31 40 36 
			 Suffolk 51 48 61 57 57 52 66 61 
			 Surrey 120 94 81 67 86 79 93 89 
			 Sussex 129 107 102 93 88 78 44 40 
			 Thames Valley 144 124 123 112 127 97 97 87 
			 Warwickshire 7 7 7 7 6 4 1 1 
			 West Mercia 22 19 9 9 4 3 7 5 
			 West Midlands 11 6 7 6 22 21 16 13 
			 West Yorkshire 26 16 34 20 90 67 75 54 
			 Wiltshire 59 55 52 43 48 46 64 60 
			 Dyfed-Powys 77 70 72 68 78 77 62 60 
			 Gwent 38 35 50 46 25 21 11 8 
			 North Wales 3 2 9 8 7 6 1 1 
			 South Wales 228 207 206 184 218 190 206 192 
			 England and Wales 2,718 2,380 2,374 2,118 2,121 1,879 1,644 1,472 
		
	
	
		
			  Statute: Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol, etc.) Act 1985 Section 2(2)  
			  Offence: Drunk in, or when entering, a designated sports event  
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			  Police force area  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			 Avon and Somerset 6 3 23 19 6 4 5 4 
			 Bedfordshire 15 14 5 4 11 10 9 5 
			 Cambridgeshire 9 9 6 6 5 4 5 5 
			 Cheshire 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 
			 City of London — — — — — — — — 
			 Cleveland 9 6 7 6 26 21 4 3 
			 Cumbria 4 3 1 1 — — — — 
			 Derbyshire 2 1 5 5 — — 5 4 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 
			 Dorset 6 6 13 11 3 2 11 7 
			 Durham — — — — 1 1 1 1 
			 Essex 1 — — — — — 1 1 
			 Gloucestershire — — — — 3 3 7 5 
			 Greater Manchester 9 9 28 28 9 9 13 13 
			 Hampshire 41 28 15 14 8 8 16 12 
			 Hertfordshire — — 1 — 1 1 — — 
			 Humberside — — — — 5 4 3 3 
			 Kent 2 2 1 1 10 10 3 1 
			 Lancashire 61 43 33 28 24 23 26 19 
			 Leicestershire — — 2 2 2 1 3 3 
			 Lincolnshire — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 Merseyside 3 3 9 8 13 11 10 9 
			 Metropolitan Police 198 168 191 146 115 92 73 62 
			 Norfolk 12 5 14 10 7 5 1 1 
			 North Yorkshire 6 6 2 1 3 3 15 12 
			 Northamptonshire — — — — 1 1 — — 
			 Northumbria 102 85 43 35 26 22 20 18 
			 Nottinghamshire 40 37 34 34 42 39 19 11 
			 South Yorkshire 48 28 20 13 27 23 23 21 
			 Staffordshire 3 2 1 1 — — — — 
			 Suffolk 5 5 5 5 3 2 2 2 
			 Surrey — — — — — — — — 
			 Sussex 1 1 — — 1 1 3 — 
			 Thames Valley 15 9 21 15 6 4 3 2 
			 West Mercia 2 2 — — 1 1 2 2 
			 West Midlands 59 36 52 41 25 19 15 11 
			 West Yorkshire 32 22 33 29 30 29 53 29 
			 Wiltshire 12 8 22 13 2 2 18 18 
			 Dyfed-Powys — — — — — — — — 
			 Gwent — — — — — — — — 
			 North Wales 2 2 3 3 7 7 5 4 
			 South Wales 2 1 6 4 3 1 2 2 
			 England and Wales 713 548 601 488 430 366 381 293 
		
	
	
		
			   2001  2002  2003  2004 
			  Police force area  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			 Avon and Somerset 3 2 3 3 9 7 10 5 
			 Bedfordshire 4 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 
			 Cambridgeshire 8 6 4 4 2 1 4 4 
			 Cheshire 1 1 2 2 5 5 4 2 
			 City of London — — — — — — — — 
			 Cleveland 15 14 26 22 14 11 13 12 
			 Cumbria   2 2 1 1 1 1 
			 Derbyshire 3 3 11 10 4 3 15 13 
			 Devon and Cornwall 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 
			 Dorset 12 10 8 5 3 2 1 1 
			 Durham 3 3 — — — — 2 2 
			 Essex — — — — — — 4 4 
			 Gloucestershire 6 4 7 3 1 1 — — 
			 Greater Manchester 7 7 13 11 11 9 14 14 
			 Hampshire 16 13 9 9 19 15 22 14 
			 Hertfordshire 2 2 1 1 — — 2 2 
			 Humberside 5 5 1 1 2 2 1 — 
			 Kent 3 2 — — — — 1 1 
			 Lancashire 26 22 23 18 16 8 11 7 
			 Leicestershire — — — — 4 1 2 — 
			 Lincolnshire — — 2 2 1 — 2 — 
			 Merseyside 9 8 8 7 7 6 7 6 
			 Metropolitan Police 37 31 61 52 72 59 59 45 
			 Norfolk 11 9 10 10 7 5 8 6 
			 North Yorkshire 13 8 4 4 3 3 1 1 
			 Northamptonshire — — — — 1 1 1 1 
			 Northumbria 44 42 42 41 44 41 16 14 
			 Nottinghamshire 26 16 20 15 13 12 28 25 
			 South Yorkshire 41 28 31 13 17 11 30 23 
			 Staffordshire — — 5 5 2 2 5 2 
			 Suffolk 7 6 5 4 6 6 29 25 
			 Surrey — — — — — — — — 
			 Sussex — — — — — — — — 
			 Thames Valley 9 7 3 3 2 2 4 3 
			 West Mercia 1 — — — 1 1 1 — 
			 West Midlands 55 45 85 67 72 55 84 61 
			 West Yorkshire 68 29 47 24 25 18 34 28 
			 Wiltshire 11 10 1 1 1 1 5 4 
			 Dyfed-Powys — — — — — — — — 
			 Gwent — — — — — — 1 1 
			 North Wales — — 2 2 4 4 1 1 
			 South Wales 5 3 — — 3 2 3 3 
			 England and Wales 452 339 439 344 376 298 432 335 
		
	
	
		
			  Statute: Criminal Justice Act 1967 S.91  
			  Offence: Any person who in any public place is guilty, while drunk, of disorderly behaviour  
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			  Police force area  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			 Avon and Somerset 361 301 374 310 383 326 363 309 
			 Bedfordshire 166 143 314 185 220 199 186 161 
			 Cambridgeshire 122 99 144 125 159 133 148 132 
			 Cheshire 586 502 714 629 652 589 590 515 
			 City of London 26 13 31 21 54 29 43 24 
			 Cleveland 774 565 707 519 708 551 684 525 
			 Cumbria 808 703 812 721 802 707 521 448 
			 Derbyshire 294 250 286 257 231 206 254 229 
			 Devon and Cornwall 888 753 771 681 709 636 704 617 
			 Dorset 272 224 390 322 343 290 406 344 
			 Durham 406 308 504 390 491 368 538 435 
			 Essex 515 415 490 381 553 447 584 472 
			 Gloucestershire 147 123 200 178 153 126 158 145 
			 Greater Manchester 1,415 1,221 1,307 1,103 1,206 1,016 1,215 982 
			 Hampshire 1,270 1,151 1,393 1,276 1,306 1,161 1,133 1,004 
			 Hertfordshire 296 246 337 292 388 342 381 338 
			 Humberside 250 222 225 195 255 228 234 206 
			 Kent 560 493 720 637 865 777 900 772 
			 Lancashire 1,618 1,219 1,673 1,304 1,827 1,436 2,165 1,673 
			 Leicestershire 27 23 27 23 37 31 24 21 
			 Lincolnshire 478 390 624 528 584 492 458 389 
			 Merseyside 2,967 2,106 2,940 2,181 2,151 1,621 1,979 1,540 
			 Metropolitan Police 1,449 1,147 1,550 1,221 1,440 1,188 1,219 981 
			 Norfolk 108 99 114 106 115 106 131 127 
			 North Yorkshire 342 302 382 336 411 355 459 380 
			 Northamptonshire 26 20 24 21 21 18 29 25 
			 Northumbria 3,122 2,693 3,567 3,153 3,548 3,141 3,859 3,400 
			 Nottinghamshire 563 428 570 431 526 419 482 376 
			 South Yorkshire 1,186 843 968 717 1,148 835 1,264 909 
			 Staffordshire 320 273 305 268 247 225 330 281 
			 Suffolk 269 249 212 193 213 194 228 201 
			 Surrey 208 172 208 173 280 248 412 307 
			 Sussex 522 409 512 424 398 325 512 422 
			 Thames Valley 1,086 859 1,305 999 1,161 917 979 758 
			 Warwickshire 309 244 666 368 286 239 228 188 
			 West Mercia 654 521 574 451 561 477 488 395 
			 West Midlands 1,102 764 846 625 522 404 472 355 
			 West Yorkshire 2,655 1,383 2,764 1,431 3,097 1,446 2,809 1,149 
			 Wiltshire 370 319 426 370 267 249 275 253 
			 Dyfed-Powys 200 166 198 176 153 133 145 122 
			 Gwent 748 651 532 458 420 368 360 317 
			 North Wales 824 704 1,006 917 949 854 799 678 
			 South Wales 1,582 1,224 1,583 1,295 1,212 1,020 1,162 994 
			 England and Wales 31,891 24,940 33,295 26,391 31,052 24,872 30,310 23,899 
		
	
	
		
			   2001  2002  2003  2004 
			  Police force area  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			 Avon and Somerset 399 343 408 350 427 364 371 323 
			 Bedfordshire 187 159 197 168 219 187 136 100 
			 Cambridgeshire 151 136 154 135 189 174 167 155 
			 Cheshire 563 475 648 545 652 582 505 454 
			 City of London 44 28 53 38 70 49 53 45 
			 Cleveland 621 465 630 427 715 500 631 465 
			 Cumbria 558 487 514 463 525 459 471 418 
			 Derbyshire 292 257 357 304 425 362 342 316 
			 Devon and Cornwall 817 711 895 760 672 601 477 420 
			 Dorset 469 418 551 473 520 451 166 142 
			 Durham 563 427 541 436 603 499 406 348 
			 Essex 513 433 409 338 194 174 204 186 
			 Gloucestershire 164 142 180 160 201 180 139 124 
			 Greater Manchester 1,067 825 1,005 792 965 787 505 420 
			 Hampshire 1,072 954 1,117 1,001 977 890 590 534 
			 Hertfordshire 406 352 508 437 449 387 365 315 
			 Humberside 247 214 213 175 213 174 127 118 
			 Kent 911 744 928 760 1,107 930 1,118 952 
			 Lancashire 2,366 1,806 2,210 1,628 2,180 1,564 908 670 
			 Leicestershire 26 23 26 24 19 16 18 15 
			 Lincolnshire 506 400 528 424 556 464 484 394 
			 Merseyside 1,926 1,465 2,118 1,766 2,039 1,734 1,348 1,116 
			 Metropolitan Police 1,494 1,189 2,464 2,017 2,466 2,053 1,182 972 
			 Norfolk 146 133 151 135 183 170 94 80 
			 North Yorkshire 482 377 452 348 512 427 195 167 
			 Northamptonshire 33 27 29 16 25 17 32 23 
			 Northumbria 3,516 3,077 3,587 3,138 3,944 3,530 3,939 3,602 
			 Nottinghamshire 529 358 507 364 501 368 261 199 
			 South Yorkshire 1,248 854 1,271 827 1,497 999 1,204 839 
			 Staffordshire 215 181 251 212 343 292 223 185 
			 Suffolk 267 240 333 299 357 314 337 291 
			 Surrey 473 330 477 332 439 376 289 255 
			 Sussex 631 509 733 596 801 689 474 416 
			 Thames Valley 997 697 979 660 1,090 756 895 613 
			 Warwickshire 195 155 125 105 162 140 111 101 
			 West Mercia 543 440 455 355 413 327 483 377 
			 West Midlands 437 331 463 373 307 253 531 437 
			 West Yorkshire 2,101 853 2,071 867 2,260 1,050 714 483 
			 Wiltshire 262 233 284 249 426 385 290 254 
			 Dyfed-Powys 162 144 173 153 223 193 214 201 
			 Gwent 308 262 273 226 207 182 263 221 
			 North Wales 839 755 669 588 545 479 436 383 
			 South Wales 998 843 802 672 725 637 903 819 
			 England and Wales 29,744 23,252 30,739 24,136 31,343 25,165 22,601 18,948 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis.(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Laser Speed Meter

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will submit the LT120.20 laser speed meter for independent testing.

Tony McNulty: The LTI 20.20 has been through the usual testing by an independent test house against specifications set and published by the Home Office scientific development branch. We have no plans for further independent testing.

Laser Speed Meter

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions for speeding have been brought as a result of readings from  (a) the LT120.20 laser speed meter and  (b) other laser speed meters in each year since 1995.

Tony McNulty: Information held centrally on prosecutions for speeding offences detected by camera does not distinguish between the different types of camera used.

Motoring Offences

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were prosecuted for driving without insurance in each police authority area in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, for the offence of "using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks", from 1997-2004 (latest available) is provided in the following table.
	2005 data will be available early in 2007.
	
		
			  Proceedings at magistrates courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) , England and Wales 1997-2004 
			  Number of offences 
			  Police force area  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003( 2)  2004 
			 Avon and Somerset 15,354 16,892 15,098 14,609 13,022 15,124 17,163 17,489 
			 Bedfordshire 4,724 4,449 3,479 3,594 4,651 4,731 5,041 4,534 
			 Cambridgeshire 3,440 3,425 3,058 2,929 2,508 2,875 3,301 3,120 
			 Cheshire 4,838 4,961 5,463 5,729 4,975 5,765 6,385 6,515 
			 Cleveland 3,925 4,204 4,331 4,793 4,789 5,994 5,575 6,597 
			 Cumbria 4,223 3,787 3,597 3,507 3,595 3,540 3,488 3,446 
			 Derbyshire 5,565 5,137 5,120 5,318 5,429 5,614 5,793 6,326 
			 Devon and Cornwall 8,422 7,232 7,493 9,234 8,648 9,598 9,676 8,943 
			 Dorset 5,271 4,198 4,776 6,035 5,262 6,176 7,034 6,075 
			 Durham 3,992 4,261 5,899 5,470 5,394 5,840 5,802 5,300 
			 Essex 7,161 7,025 7,336 7,898 7,708 7,811 7,489 7,132 
			 Gloucestershire 3,577 4,465 4,443 4,174 4,683 4,417 4,412 3,695 
			 Greater Manchester 30,655 30,836 33,228 33,783 37,088 36,337 38,208 34,942 
			 Hampshire 11,768 11,557 11,553 10,559 10,349 10,912 10,619 9,750 
			 Hertfordshire 4,580 5,799 4,748 5,258 5,816 6,612 7,216 7,463 
			 Humberside 4,408 4,279 4,894 5,024 4,730 4,464 5,509 5,170 
			 Kent 6,935 6,958 6,151 9,033 9,592 10,059 9,788 10,673 
			 Lancashire 20,334 18,794 18,111 18,354 16,280 17,555 21,229 16,065 
			 Leicestershire 9,706 9,481 11,054 10,263 10,475 10,699 11,304 10,833 
			 Lincolnshire 4,589 5,000 5,345 4,500 4,083 4,242 5,883 6,621 
			 London, City of 2,671 3,127 2,521 1,738 1,826 2,353 2,563 2,812 
			 Merseyside 10,896 9,747 8,932 10,054 9,467 10,360 12,776 13,023 
			 Metropolitan Police 42,283 35,064 31,285 29,649 32,032 36,485 43,100 47,806 
			 Norfolk 3,932 3,434 3,468 3,951 4,744 5,563 6,322 5,084 
			 Northamptonshire 4,999 4,849 5,571 3,949 2,028 1,211 4,157 5,804 
			 Northumbria 12,470 11,837 13,296 13,195 12,504 12,309 12,951 11,685 
			 North Yorkshire 3,926 3,744 4,003 3,905 3,545 3,340 3,774 4,065 
			 Nottinghamshire 8,078 8,726 7,957 7,748 7,856 7,460 9,224 9,224 
			 South Yorkshire 11,228 11,553 11,763 12,690 14,623 13,859 13,745 11,416 
			 Staffordshire 8,180 8,210 8,021 8,777 6,027 7,056 7,214 7,439 
			 Suffolk 3,258 3,743 4,189 3,923 4,123 4,759 5,808 5,718 
			 Surrey 4,942 3,908 4,436 4,941 5,101 5,554 4,657 3,927 
			 Sussex 9,333 8,202 7,415 6,796 6,814 6,413 5,808 4,371 
			 Thames Valley 11,887 11,948 13,543 12,816 11,728 12,842 14,516 12,920 
			 Warwickshire 4,316 3,769 3,523 4,135 4,204 3,711 3,756 4,160 
			 West Mercia 7,082 8,207 7,450 7,686 7,787 7,849 7,735 7,249 
			 West Midlands 29,878 30,928 27,409 28,148 27,010 32,339 36,409 39,696 
			 West Yorkshire 23,980 23,549 25,776 26,529 27,618 24,873 26,966 32,404 
			 Wiltshire 3,463 4,820 4,708 4,901 5,292 5,326 4,794 4,641 
			  
			 Dyfed-Powys 3,079 2,852 3,017 3,072 2,953 3,316 3,094 2,244 
			 Gwent 4,097 4,478 4,451 4,680 4,758 4,508 4,083 3,474 
			 North Wales 4,859 4,452 4,102 3,697 3,376 4,048 5,968 6,022 
			 South Wales 14,829 16,187 15,406 14,615 13,805 16,499 16,932 15,946 
			 England and Wales 397,133 390,074 387,419 391,659 388,298 410,398 447,267 441,819 
			 (1) An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143 (2).  (2) As from 1 June 2003, "driving a motor vehicle while uninsured against third party risks" became a fixed penalty offence.   Note:  Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Police

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) front line police officers and  (b) police officers in total there were in (i) the Northern Division, (ii) Central Division and (iii) Southern Division of Cambridgeshire Constabulary in each year from 1997 to 2005.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 20 October 2006
	I understand this an operational matter for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, however, the relevant data are contained in the table.
	
		
			  Police officer strength (FTE)( 1)  by function type( 2)  for Cambridgeshire Constabulary( 3)  as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006( 4) 
			   Operational support  Operational  Organisational Support  Total 
			  31 March 2003 
			 Cambridgeshire Central 20 318 1 339 
			 Cambridgeshire Northern 25 333 2 360 
			 Cambridgeshire Southern 34 357 6 397 
			  
			  31 March 2004 
			 Cambridgeshire Central 25 334 1 360 
			 Cambridgeshire Northern 33 322 1 356 
			 Cambridgeshire Southern 32 359 3 394 
			  
			  31 March 2005 
			 Cambridgeshire Central 19 291 2 312 
			 Cambridgeshire Northern 30 276 2 308 
			 Cambridgeshire Southern 22 342 2 365 
			  
			  31 March 2006 
			 Cambridgeshire Central 23 296 3 322 
			 Cambridgeshire Northern 28 288 1 317 
			 Cambridgeshire southern 44 321 2 367 
			 (1). Full time equivalent. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.(2). Recorded functions are "Operational", "Operational support" and "Organisational support".(3). Data available at the basic command unit level.(4). Data not available prior to 2002-03

Police

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have faced disciplinary procedures for negligence or oversight in investigating a crime and following up leads with diligence in each year since 2000.

Tony McNulty: The statistics for negligence or oversight in investigating a crime and following up leads with diligence are not specifically captured or held centrally.
	However, Police Complaints statistics for England and Wales up to 31 March 2004 are available on the Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds). With effect from 1 April 2004, the responsibility of the guardianship of the police complaints system and the collation and publication of these statistics passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and they are available on (www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/resources/research/stats).

Police

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic police officers there were in  (a) Suffolk,  (b) Bedfordshire,  (c) Cambridgeshire,  (d) Essex,  (e) Hertfordshire and  (f) Norfolk in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: I understand this is an operational matter for the police constabularies concerned, however, the relevant data are contained in the following table.
	
		
			  Police officers whose primary function is traffic as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006 (FTE)( 1,2) 
			   31 March 2003  31 March 2004  31 March 2005  31 March 2006 
			 Bedfordshire 75 80 80 81 
			 Cambridgeshire 85 99 101 99 
			 Essex 241 242 243 243 
			 Hertfordshire 150 151 149 149 
			 Norfolk 120 121 107 112 
			 Suffolk 68 72 76 80 
			 (1) Full time equivalent. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.(2) Data not available prior to 2002-03.

Police

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic police officers there were in Lancashire in each year since 1997.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 20 October 2006
	I understands this is an operational matter for the chief constable of Lancashire, however, the relevant data are contained in the following table.
	
		
			  Police officers whose primary function is traffic as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006 (FTE)( 1,2) 
			  Lancashire  Number 
			 31 March 2003 198 
			 31 March 2004 187 
			 31 March 2005 190 
			 31 March 2006 197 
			 (1) Full time equivalent. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.  (2) Data not available prior to 2002-03.

Professional Standards Investigations

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people involved in professional standards department investigations in the last 12 months are  (a) white and  (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds.

Tony McNulty: The statistics for the ethnicity of police staff involved in professional standards department investigations is not specifically captured or held centrally.
	However, police complaints statistics for England and Wales up to 31 March 2004 are available on the Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds). With effect from 1 April 2004, the responsibility of the guardianship of the police complaints system and the collation and publication of these statistics passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and they are available on: www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/resources/research/stats).

Alzheimer's Disease

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that clinicians continue to be able to exercise flexibility in prescribing drugs for people with Alzheimer's disease.

Andy Burnham: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is currently finalising its technology appraisal guidance on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, and expects to publish its guidance on 22 November alongside a new clinical guideline on the management of dementia, the treatment and care of people with dementia in health and social care. It would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene in that process.

Ambulance Services

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average ambulance response time in attending 999 calls in  (a) East Anglia and  (b) England has been in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The Department: collects ambulance response time data in relation to response time requirements rather than by average response time. Therefore, the information requested is not centrally collected in the required format.
	The data that the Department does collect on ambulance response times has been published on an annual basis in the statistical bulletin, "Ambulance services, England". These documents are all available in the Library and the latest bulletin, for 2005-06, is available on the Information Centre for health and social care's website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/ambulanceserv06.

Ambulance Services

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to review the funding for the North West Ambulance Service following the recent rating of "weak" by the Healthcare Commission.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 24 October 2006
	Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for ensuring the provision of emergency ambulance services to such extent as they consider necessary to meet all reasonable requirements. We expect the new PCTs to agree and strengthen arrangements for commissioning ambulance services, and improve commissioning of health services as a whole.

Birth Statistics

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births there were at  (a) the Princess Royal hospital, Haywards Heath,  (b) St Richard's hospital, Chichester and  (c) Worthing hospital in each of the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Deliveries registered by hospital 2000-05 
			  Hospital  2004-05  2003-04  2002-03  2001-02  2000-01 
			 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals National Health Service Trust(1) 5,263 5,224 — — — 
			 The Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath(2) — — 2,133 2,061 2,152 
			 St Richard's Hospital, Chichester 2,015 1,918 1,795 1,771 1,861 
			 Worthing Hospital 2,472 2,346 2,305 2,278 2,278 
			 (1) Consists of the Princess Royal and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.  (2) Part of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.   Notes: 1 Data for 2005-06 cannot be supplied as it is still provisional.  2 Data was not published independently for the Princess Royal hospital in 2003-04 and 2004-05. This information is incorporated into the data for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Bowel Cancer Screening

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with the implementation of the bowel cancer screening programme since 1 April; what the timetable is for further implementation of the programme; how many people have been screened; and how many people she expects will have the opportunity to undergo screening in the next five years.

Ivan Lewis: Good progress has been made in rolling out the national bowel cancer screening programme.
	The programme consists of five programme hubs across England who will invite men and women to participate in the screening programme, send out the faecal occult blood (FOB) testing kits, analyse the returned kits and send out results. Ninety to 100 local screening centres will provide endoscopy services for the 2 per cent, of men and women who have a positive FOB test result.
	The five hubs have been confirmed as:
	Rugby—West Midlands and the North West - began operations in July 2006;
	Guildford—Southern - began operations in September 2006;
	St Mark's—London - begins operations in October 2006;
	Gateshead—North East; and
	Nottingham—Eastern.
	All five hubs will be operational by March 2007.
	In addition to the hubs, the first six local screening centres have now been confirmed. Wolverhampton and Norwich began sending out invitations in July 2006, and South Devon and Liverpool began sending out invitations in September 2006. St Mark's London is due to begin sending out invitations in October 2006, with St George's London following in November 2006. The other eight sites due to become local screening centres in wave one of the programme, in 2006-07, will be confirmed as soon as possible, when they have satisfied quality and capacity criteria.
	We will be writing to the new strategic health authorities (SHAs) shortly for them to bid for their local endoscopy units to become local screening centres as part of wave two of the programme in 2007-08. It is up to SHAs to decide where local screening centres should be located for the benefit of their own populations.
	Over 4,550 people have been screened since the start of the national programme.
	The bowel cancer screening programme is an ambitious project, and one of the first of its kind in Europe. Full national roll-out in England is expected by December 2009 and when fully implemented, around two million men and women in their 60s will be screened every two years. We are committed to implementing this important programme.

Breast Cancer

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the breast cancer  (a) survival rate and  (b) death rate was for women in each constituency in the North East region in each of the last 10 years.

Rosie Winterton: Survival and death rates cannot be provided for parliamentary constituencies as population estimates are not available for these areas.
	The Office for National Statistics has published cancer survival rates for adult patients resident in each of the strategic health authorities (SHAs) in England, who were diagnosed during 1997-99 and followed up to the end of 2004. One- and five-year relative survival rates for female breast cancer are provided in table one for the two SHAs that constituted the North East Government Office Region during this period.
	Breast cancer death rates for these SHAs from 1996 to 2005, the latest year available, are included in table two.
	
		
			  Table 1: One- and five-year age-standardised relative survival (per cent.) from breast cancer by strategic health authorities in the North East Government Office Region, for women diagnosed in 1997-99 and followed up to 31 December 2004 
			  Percentage 
			  Strategic health authority  One-year survival  Five-year survival 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 93.12 76.58 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley 93.69 77.96 
			  Source: www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/SurvivalRatesbySHA2004Data.xls 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Death rates( 1)  from female breast cancer( 2)  by strategic health authorities in the North East Government Office Region,( 3 ) 1996 to 2005( 4) 
			  Death rates per 100,000 population 
			   Northumberland, Tyne and Wear  County Durham and Tees Valley 
			 1996 32.3 36.2 
			 1997 35.7 35.4 
			 1998 36.1 30.3 
			 1999 33.1 28.7 
			 2000 30.2 30.4 
			 2001 30.6 29.6 
			 2002 25.9 28.3 
			 2003 23.8 25.9 
			 2004 26.8 28.7 
			 2005 28.9 29.7 
			 (1 )Rates per 100,000 population standardised to the European Standard Population.(2) The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, 9(th) Revision (ICD-9) for years 1996-2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, 10(th) Revision (ICD-10) for 2001-05. The codes used are listed as follows:Breast cancer—ICD-9174; ICD-10 C50.Records were selected using the original underlying cause of death.(3) Usual residents of these areas.(4) Deaths registered in each calendar year.

Breast Cancer

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the geographical consistency of testing of women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer for suitability for treatment with herceptin.

Rosie Winterton: In October 2005, Professor Mike Richards, the national cancer director, wrote to all cancer networks to identify the current level of HER2 testing and to inform them that they would need to put arrangements for HER2 testing in place.
	This exercise confirmed that access to HER2 testing facilities was patchy and few networks were testing all women with early breast cancer to determine their HER2 status.
	In March 2006, the national cancer director sought a progress report from cancer networks. This showed that there had been a significant improvement in the number of cancer networks providing HER2 testing for all women diagnosed with early breast cancer.
	28 out of 34 cancer networks reported that they were HER2 testing all women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. The remaining six reported that they would be testing all these women by the end of October 2006.

Cancer Treatment

Kitty Ussher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in waiting times for cancer treatment in Burnley constituency since  (a) 1997 and  (b) 2001.

Andy Burnham: The information is not available in the format requested. Information for national health service trusts in the Burnley area relating to cancer waiting times for the most recent years where figures are available has been set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of patients treated for children's cancer, testicular cancer and acute leukaemia, and proportion of patients starting treatment within 31 days of general practitioners referral, in Burnley region in 2001-02 quarter 4 and 2006-07 quarter 1( 1) 
			   2001-02 Q4  2006-07 Q1 
			Number and percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral   Number and percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral 
			   Total number of patients treated during the quarter  Number  Percentage  Total number of patients treated during the quarter  Number  Percentage 
			 Burnley region(2) 6 6 100 4 3 75 
			 England 342 327 95.6 263 251 95.4 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of patients treated for breast cancer, and proportion of patients starting treatment within 31 days of diagnosis, in Burnley region in 2001-02 quarter 4 and 2006-07 quarter 1( 1) 
			   2001-02 Q4  2006-07 Q1 
			   Total number of patients treated during the quarter  Percentage of patients treated within 31 days of diagnosis  Total number of patients treated during the quarter  Percentage of patients treated within 31 days of referral 
			 Burnley region(2) 94 100.0 113 100.0 
			 England 6,315 94.2 8,980 99.8 
			 (1) The only figures available relating to treatment (rather than time waited for first out-patient appointment) in 2001-02 are for rare cancers and breast cancer.(2) Figures are for Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust, Preston Acute Hospital NHS Trust and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust in 2001-02 Q4 and for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2006-07 Q1. Note:Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust and Blackburn Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Care NHS Trust merged to form East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (1 April 2003). Preston Acute Hospital NHS Trust and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust merged to form Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (1 August 2002). Source:CWT-Db, Department of Health

Central Budget Review

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2006,  Official Report, column 510W, on Central Budget Review, what the minor reductions considered inescapable were.

Andy Burnham: The previous answer detailed the timing of the completion of the Central Budget Review and stated that allocations have been subject to minor reductions to cover a small number of pressures that were considered inescapable. It was the pressures not the reductions that were inescapable.
	It is not possible to supply a like for like comparison of budgets in 2005-06 and 2006-07 because, as a consequence of the review of 2006-07 budgets, responsibility and resource for a significant proportion have been transferred to the national health service via strategic health authorities. This reflects the desire to ensure better, more timely targeting of central funding to meet local priorities.

Cholesterol Medication

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients there were on cholesterol lowering medication in each of the last 20 years.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not hold data on the number of patients treated with cholesterol lowering medication. The following tables detail prescriptions dispensed in the community.
	
		
			  Total number of items, in thousands, dispensed in the community in England for cholesterol lowering medication since 1991. 
			  Thousand 
			  BNF chemical name  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998 
			 Acipimox 8.6 9.7 9.2 9.1 9.4 9.5 8.8 7.7 
			 Atorvastatin — — — — —  205.0 819.4 
			 Bezafibrate 389.2 448.1 497.0 540.4 587.7 622.9 608.3 552.5 
			 Cerivastatin — — — — — — 46.6 253.0 
			 Chondroitin Sulphate A 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 — 0.0 
			 Ciprofibrate — 0.5 22.0 62.0 103.9 134.1 152.3 143.3 
			 Clofibrate 46.4 37.7 31.3 26.8 22.9 19.7 17.2 14.6 
			 Colestipol Hydrochloride 25.8 31.2 36.1 34.9 31.6 26.4 21.2 16.9 
			 Colestyramine 120.8 117.3 109.4 100.7 93.9 85.8 76.1 69.5 
			 Ezetimibe — — — — — — — — 
			 Fenofibrate 8.3 15.7 25.1 38.8 57.9 82.4 97.4 98.3 
			 Fluvastatin Sodium — — — 9.5 46.8 113.8 194.8 260.1 
			 Gemfibrozil 66.7 72.1 73.6 71.0 65.6 61.0 54.2 45.1 
			 Ispaghula Husk — — — — — 0.0 8.8 10.9 
			 Lovastatin — — 0.0 — — — 0.0 0.0 
			 Nicofuranose 17.8 17.3 16.8 7.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Nicotinic Acid 10.1 9.4 8.9 8.3 7.2 6.2 5.2 4.8 
			 Omega-3 Marine — — — — — — — — 
			 Triglycerides 34.1 32.0 30.4 29.0 29.1 30.1 30.3 29.4 
			 Omega-3-Acid Ethyl — — — — — — — — 
			 Esters — — — — — — — — 
			 Other Preparations 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.0 
			 Pravastatin Sodium 53.1 99.0 134.3 159.0 189.2 290.9 457.5 684.2 
			 Probucol 9.8 8.3 7.2 6.6 6.3 6.1 1.2 0.2 
			 Rosuvastatin Calcium — — — — — — — — 
			 Simvastatin 275.2 409.2 513.2 637.9 963.8 1,648.3 2,412.2 2,971 .9 
			 Simvastatin and Ezetimibe — — — — — — — — 
			 Sitosterol 0.0 0.0 — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			  BNF chemical name  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Acipimox 6.9 6.7 6.6 6.3 6.1 5.3 5.2 
			 Atorvastatin 1,703.7 2,885.5 4,407.6 6,450.7 8,629.4 11,238.1 13,172.8 
			 Bezafibrate 510.5 485.0 469.1 456.3 443.1 426.2 423.1 
			 Cerivastatin 463.8 767.1 659.8 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Chondroitin Sulphate A — — — — — — — 
			 Ciprofibrate 136.1 125.9 119.0 108.9 99.9 91.8 86.2 
			 Clofibrate 12.4 2.9 0.0 0.0 — — — 
			 Colestipol Hydrochloride 14.6 12.7 12.5 11.9 10.6 8.6 8.0 
			 Colestyramine 67.3 69.3 71.9 74.8 74.8 73.7 73.4 
			 Ezetimibe — — — — 50.1 293.2 661.0 
			 Fenofibrate 106.5 127.5 164.8 204.4 239.9 272.7 307.2 
			 Fluvastatin Sodium 315.6 395.0 581.1 783.7 774.5 671.7 515.8 
			 Gemfibrozil 39.3 36.5 36.1 34.4 32.3 28.6 25.7 
			 Ispaghula Husk 9.6 9.1 8.7 8.1 6.0 8.6 1.1 
			 Lovastatin 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Nicofuranose — — — — — — — 
			 Nicotinic Acid 3.3 2.0 1.9 1.6 1.6 13.7 25.2 
			 Omega-3 Marine — — — — — — — 
			 Triglycerides 29.5 30.2 31.7 33.5 32.1 32.8 35.1 
			 Omega-3-Acid Ethyl Esters — — — 0.8 22.7 78.7 145.0 
			 Other Preparations — 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Pravastatin Sodium 0.0 1,200.4 1,684.1 2,292.4 2,582.3 2,503.9 2,217.9 
			 Probucol 918.5 0.0 0.0 — — — — 
			 Rosuvastatin Calcium 0.0 — — — 277.4 1,015.8 1,311.8 
			 Simvastatin — 4,174.9 5,268.1 7,135.8 9,371.4 12,680.9 16,536.9 
			 Simvastatin and Ezetimibe 3,588.0 — — — — — 16.4 
			 Sitosterol — — — — — — — 
			  Notes:  1. Prescription costs analysis (PCA) data. Prescription information is taken from the PCA system, supplied by the prescription pricing division of the NHS Business Services Authority and is based on a full analysis of all prescriptions dispensed in the community i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. Also included are prescriptions written in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man but dispensed in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospitals, including mental health trusts, or private prescriptions.  2. Prescription items. Prescriptions are written on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.  3. Discontinuity of data. Please note that data up to 1990 has not been provided as it is not consistent with data from 1991 onwards. Figures for 1980 to 1990 are based on fees and on a sample of one in 200 prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and appliance contractors only. Figures for 1991 onwards are based on items and cover all prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered.   Source:  PCA.

CSR 2007

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what working groups have been established by her Department in order to inform her Department's input into the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007; what topics the groups cover; what staff the groups have in support of their work; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The work of the Department on the comprehensive spending review (CSR) is overseen at official level by a joint Department of Health and HM Treasury steering group, with consultation with the NHS management board and the social CSR review working group.
	The Department of Health has analytical, finance and policy teams working on all areas of the CSR, including the following: trends in underlying demand and costs, value for money reviews, the approach to investment and asset management, pay and workforce, and the performance framework. Departmental officials are also involved in the work on cross-Government policy reviews that will feed into the CSR, including the mental health and employment outcomes review and the supporting housing growth review.

Dentistry

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists with NHS contracts have been registered in  (a) Bristol and  (b) Bristol West in each year since 2003.

Rosie Winterton: The latest full year information is provided in the following table. Information for the full year ending 2006-07 is not yet available. The latest available information shows that there were 105 dentists on open national health service contracts in Bristol North Primary Care Trust (PCT) and 124 in Bristol South and West PCT as at 30 June 2006.
	The number of NHS contracts and the service associated with these contracts provides a guide to the level of NHS dental services available. Management information shows that 93.4 per cent. and 98.3 per cent. of dental service respectively was preserved in these two PCTs following the launch of the reforms.
	The PCTs are actively re-commissioning the small percentage of service associated with the rejected contracts. Nationally PCTs are finding no shortage of dentists willing to take on additional NHS activity.
	
		
			  March  Bristol North PCT  Bristol South and West PCT 
			 2003 101 117 
			 2004 102 115 
			 2005 113 132 
			 2006 120 140 
			  Notes: 1. The new NHS dental contract arrangements were introduced on 1 April 2006. Workforce numbers under the new contractual arrangements are not comparable with numbers under the old contract as the numbers of dentists are now counted differently based on a contract between the provider and the PCT.  2. Under the new contract, the numbers of dentists provided are performers and are defined as a dentist who has been set up on the Dental Practice Division Payments online system by the PCT to work under an open contract as at 30 June 2006. The number provided is a count of individuals listed as performers on open contracts.  3. Under the new contract arrangements PCTs agree with providers a specified annual level of NHS dental treatment. The provider is committed under the contract to providing this level of service—he or she may do this personally or through other dentists he or she employs (they must however be listed within the PCT contract as potential performers of NHS services). 4. Most NHS dentists do some private work. Figures provided do not take into account the proportion of NHS work undertaken by dentists.  5. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending on the date the figures are compiled. This is because the NHS BSA may be notified of joiners or leavers to or from the GDS or PDS up to several months, or more, after the move has taken place. Information is up to date as at 16 October 2006.  6. Hospital and community dental services or services provided privately have been excluded from the numbers.  7. Further information is available in reports published by The Information Centre for Health and Social Care: Information on the new contract (quarter 1, June 2006) is available at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstatsq2o6. Historical information, old contract, is available at www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dwfactivity.   Sources:  The Information Centre for Health and Social Care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA)

Free Eye Tests

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners have received free eye tests since their introduction in each  (a) local health authority area and  (b) constituency.

Ivan Lewis: The information in the table shows the number of national health service (NHS) sight tests for those aged 60 and over paid for by the former strategic health authority (SHA) areas from 1999-2000 to 2005-06. Eligibility for NHS sight tests was extended to those aged 60 and over from 1 April 1999.
	The data have been produced by former SHA areas. Data are not collected by constituency.
	
		
			  Former strategic health authority area  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 England 3,301,412 3,753,315 4,012,946 4,135,712 4,308,889 4,303,128 4,450,007 
			 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge 161,882 183,042 187,020 190,352 244,051 255,196 261,384 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 114,426 121,867 110,610 85,046 101,458 70,005 89,077 
			 Essex 128,718 159,564 167,613 160,577 155,533 165,165 169,562 
			 North West London 134,922 151,709 166,743 169,879 94,476 97,901 98,339 
			 North Central London 71,932 73,365 79,697 67,993 76,687 67,914 68,258 
			 North East London 67,346 77,326 85,248 87,487 103,215 89,775 91,922 
			 South East London 71,304 74,413 72,892 82,320 99,045 78,599 78,034 
			 South West London 67,080 83,721 88,647 87,106 89,659 88,985 88,907 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 52,747 76,576 76,436 80,148 89,617 97,584 94,777 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley 76,053 82,647 87,714 92,435 96,916 99,369 104,004 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 111,108 128,601 142,103 141,724 155,552 171,317 168,066 
			 West Yorkshire 152,198 174,826 141,216 188,444 189,379 189,289 205,472 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 118,377 158,871 172,234 189,075 186,885 190,754 193,830 
			 Greater Manchester 141,564 176,480 195,782 189,914 184,696 182,198 193,605 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 166,704 179,640 193,163 201,180 185,045 181,771 196,814 
			 Thames Valley 128,358 158,320 164,765 160,681 167,621 162,125 166,394 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 79,152 85,964 102,388 84,312 165,310 178,348 178,754 
			 Kent and Medway 109,703 119,039 134,011 140,199 149,278 144,553 149,776 
			 Surrey and Sussex 222,138 232,896 245,858 253,865 279,365 280,377 290,911 
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 181,672 203,009 217,783 223,777 231,175 219,092 225,607 
			 South West Peninsula 126,533 146,353 177,901 204,678 186,236 190,707 192,405 
			 Dorset and Somerset 113,271 135,811 149,004 152,475 152,260 156,330 151,065 
			 South Yorkshire 84,951 83,846 99,717 98,214 97,155 107,389 110,525 
			 Trent 183,181 199,129 220,662 231,649 241,897 237,149 269,230 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 92,257 116,009 123,800 126,463 134,600 141,158 148,654 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 105,831 120,099 115,939 138,045 139,452 144,793 150,472 
			 Birmingham and the Black Country 127,130 157,108 175,287 179,241 180,419 176,443 169,206 
			  Note:  The age related criteria take precedence on the sight test form so, for example, somebody aged 60 or over with diabetes or Glaucoma might only be recorded in the "aged 60 and over" category.   Source:  The Information Centre, Department of Health

Head Injuries

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of how the move to practice-based commissioning will affect the commissioning and provision of specialised services for those who have suffered brain injuries.

Andy Burnham: The move to practice based commissioning (PBC) should not affect the commissioning and provision of specialised services for brain injury, including specialised rehabilitation services, as specialised services are not covered by PBC.

Independent Birth Units

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place a moratorium on closure of independent birth units until the conclusion of the National Perinatal Epidemiological Unit's study into midwifery services and the role of such units.

Ivan Lewis: The Government's vision is that women should have easy access to supportive, high quality maternity services, designed around their individual needs and those of their babies. Any decisions about reconfiguration of services should be made at local level as local commissioners and managers are in the best position to determine the needs of their local population. Reconfiguration does not necessarily mean reducing service capacity—but rather affords local managers the opportunity to build local services that are fit to deliver 21st century maternity care, recognising the fact that services may need to be delivered differently, and in different locations—for example in community based settings. By 2009, all women will have choice over where and how they have their baby, from a range of settings, including hospitals, midwifery led units and at home. A homebirth or a birth in a midwifery led unit, should be a realistic option for all women with uncomplicated pregnancies. The choices offered to women should fall within the safety net of an emergency network that: is readily available, should the need arise.

Maternity and Paediatric Services

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what information and advice was provided by the local NHS to inform her decision to refer maternity and paediatric services in Teesside to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel;
	(2)  To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the basis was for her decision to refer maternity and paediatric services in Teesside to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel;
	(3)  whether the contents of the letter of 31 July to her from the chairman of Hartlepool borough council's Adult and Community Services and Health Scrutiny Forum formed part of the basis of her decision to refer maternity and paediatric services in Teesside to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.

Ivan Lewis: The Secretary of State received referrals affecting maternity and paediatric services in Teesside from the joint overview scrutiny committee (JOSC) chaired by the Middlesbrough borough council covering the local authorities of Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton, Hartlepool, North Yorkshire and Durham on 7 July 2006 and the Stockton overview and scrutiny committee (OSC) on 3 July 2006. In addition, Hartlepool borough council's adult and community services and health scrutiny forum also wrote to her on the same subject on 31 July.
	Both the OSCs and the JOSC respectively stated that they felt that the proposals to reconfigure maternity services were not in the best interests of the local population.
	The views expressed in each of the referrals was fully taken into consideration in the Secretary of State's request to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to undertake a review of maternity and paediatric services in Teesside.
	For the JOSC, the rationale is to retain a consultant-led maternity and paediatric service on both the North Tees and Hartlepool hospital sites. For the Stockton OSC, the principle of centralisation of these services on to one site was accepted, with a view that this could only be based at North Tees (Stockton). The Hartlepool borough council supported centralisation of these services on one site with a view that these could only be based at Hartlepool.
	The advice from the local NHS (the North East Strategic Health Authority) was that the two issues of centralisation and location of services needed recognition and resolution. The strategic health authority's view is that centralisation of consultant-led services to form one service within the trust is essential, and two separate consultant-led services as advocated by the JOSC are unsustainable. The issue is therefore one of where to locate these services.
	In light of the differing views expressed by the local OSCs to her, the Secretary of State wrote to the IRP asking them for their advice on 22 September 2006. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library.
	The IRP will submit their report to the Secretary of State no later than 18 December 2006.

Maternity Units

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her Department's policy is on midwife-led maternity units.

Ivan Lewis: The Government's vision for woman-focused, family-centred care as well as choice in maternity services is pivotal to the maternity standard of the national service framework for children, young people and maternity services. The standard requires national health service maternity care providers and primary care trusts to ensure that the range of ante-natal, birth and post-birth care services available locally provides real choice for women (including home births) and that local options for midwife-led care will include midwife-led units in the community or on a hospital site to all women who have been appropriately assessed.
	In its manifesto, the Government made a commitment that, by 2009, all women will have choice over where and how they have their baby and this should include offering services in a range of settings, including hospitals, midwife-led units and at home. The choices offered to women should ensure access to an emergency network that is readily available, should the need arise. The Government have further demonstrated its commitment to choice in maternity in the White Paper "Our Health, Our Care, Our Say", published on 30 January this year, which pledges to raise the profile of maternity services and encourages doctors to support birth choices.
	Ultimately, decisions about the patterns of maternity service delivery are matters for local NHS trusts to determine, taking into account local population needs, priorities and resources.

Mental Health

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of the total NHS mental health budget was allocated to  (a) services dedicated to addressing the mental health problems of children and adolescents and  (b) services dedicated to addressing the mental health problems of adults in each of the last 10 years;
	(2)  what the total financial investment in  (a) children and adolescent mental health services and  (b) adult mental health services was in each of the last 10 years.

Ivan Lewis: Information is not available in the requested format. Information about gross expenditure on mental illness elements of the national health service hospital and community health services budget in each of the last 10 years for which data is available has been placed in the Library. The data excludes social care spend on people with mental health problems, and expenditure concerning people treated in primary care for whom a specific diagnosis has not been reached. The figures therefore underestimate the total mental health expenditure. From 2003-04, the national programme budget project began mapping all NHS expenditure, including primary care services, to programmes of care based on medical conditions such as mental health problems. This information is published on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/13/74/68/04137468.xls.
	The child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) mapping exercise for 2005 found that in 2004-05 the total spend on specialist CAMHS by the NHS and local authorities was £431 million. Further information on expenditure on CAMHS can be found at www.camhsmapping.org.uk/2005.

Mental Health

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of the budget each strategic health authority was spent on mental health in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what the budget was for each mental health trust in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what proportion of the budget of each primary care trust was spent on mental health in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: Information is not available in the requested format.
	The Department makes revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs), but not to mental health trusts. Allocations were first made to PCTs in 2003-04, but prior to this funding was allocated to health authorities. Information has been placed in the Library.
	Information on expenditure by each PCT on commissioning of mental illness services in each of the last five years for which data are available has been placed in the Library.
	The data excludes social care spend on people with mental health problems, and expenditure concerning people treated in primary care. It should be noted that some commissioning expenditure would also have been undertaken by health authorities, particularly in 2000-01 and 2001-02. The figures therefore underestimate the total mental health expenditure.
	Some primary care trusts may have local arrangements in respect of commissioning. For example, North and South Peterborough PCTs have an arrangement whereby the commissioning of health care expenditure in the area is by North Peterborough only. This produces a degree of variance year on year.
	In order to gain a more comprehensive picture of mental health spend, the Department commissioned national surveys of investment in mental health services in each year since 2001. The reports of five surveys covering the period from 2000-01 to 2005-06 are available from the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk.

Mental Health Advocates

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the current level of provision is of mental health advocates for NHS patients; and what level of provision she plans to put in place in 2007-08.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally. It is for local statutory commissioning bodies to determine the level and scope of advocacy services in their areas in the light of their knowledge of local needs and priorities.
	The Government supports mental health patients' access to advocacy. We have commissioned a programme with the University of Durham to develop training and standards for mental health advocates and systems to support the commissioning of services. The initial research findings indicate that some form of advocacy is available to mental health patients in over 80 per cent. of local implementation team areas in England.

Multiple Myeloma

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many responses from  (a) health care professionals,  (b) patients and  (c) carers were received by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the consultation on velcade for multiple myeloma.

Andy Burnham: The information is not available in the format requested. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) appraisal consultation document on velcade for multiple myeloma was placed on NICE's website for public consultation for a period of three weeks from 24 July 2006. I understand that by the end of the consultation period NICE had received 243 responses from members of the public, 15 responses from registered stakeholder organisations and a petition with 2,282 signatures.
	Further information, including a summary of the responses received, can be found on NICE's website at www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=377664.

Myalgic Encephalopathy

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase access to services for people suffering from Myalgic encephalopathy in  (a) Hartlepool constituency and  (b) the North East region.

Ivan Lewis: Local national health service (NHS) organisations have the responsibility to demonstrate that they are making progress towards achieving the level of service quality described in the national service framework for long-term conditions. This document sets out a clear vision of how health and social care organisations in all parts of the country can improve the quality, consistency and responsiveness of their services and help improve the lives of people living with neurological conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Necrotising Enterocolitis

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has examined on the causes of necrotising enterocolitis in the NHS.

Ivan Lewis: Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious gastrointestinal disease seen principally in neonatal intensive care units. The Medical Research Council funded researchers at the Institute of Child Health to undertake a study with the objective of establishing the incidence of necrotising enterocolitis, to determine whether early diet influenced its onset and severity. The study ran from October 1993 to October 1994 and used the surveillance system set up by the British paediatric surveillance unit. The outcome data highlighted the benefits of breast feeding adding weight to the view, based now on several lines of evidence that the inclusion of human milk in the diets of preterm infants may be clinically beneficial. The Government are fully committed to the promotion of breastfeeding as the best form of nutrition for infants and recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate types and amounts of complementary foods.
	We are aware that the Health Technology Assessment, which researches health interventions of diseases, has a project soon to be commissioned that relates to prevention of the condition. The title is "Early administration to preterm infants of Bifidobacterium breve strain BBG to prevent infection and necrotising enterocolitis".

Necrotising Enterocolitis

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of children and babies with necrotising enterocolitis there were in each year between 2000 and 2006.

Ivan Lewis: Necrotising enterocolitis is a serious gastrointestinal disease seen principally in neonatal intensive care units. The Information Centre for health and social care has provided the following data taken from hospital episode statistics on incidence between 2000-01 and 2004-05, the latest year for which information is available:
	
		
			  Finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis is necrotising enterocolitis/enteritis 
			   Number 
			  P77X( 1) —Necrotising enterocolitis of fetus and newborn  
			 2004-05 153 
			 2003-04 177 
			 2002-03 121 
			 2001-02 153 
			 2000-01 123 
			   
			  A047( 2) —Enteritis due to clostridium difficile  
			 2004-05 35 
			 2003-04 373 
			 2002-03 310 
			 2001-02 296 
			 2000-01 286 
			 (1) P77X is valid for babies not yet born and those until 27th day 23rd hour and 59th minute of life.  (2) A047 includes but is not limited to necrotising enterocolitis due to clostridium difficile  Notes: Diagnosis (primary diagnosis). The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (7 prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics data set and provides the main reason the patient was in hospital. Finished consultant episode (FCE) An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care with the year.   Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data, that is the data are ungrossed.

NHS Direct and NHS Online

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people received advice from  (a) NHS Direct and  (b) NHS online in each month since their introduction, broken down by local authority area.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally. The following tables show the number of calls answered by NHS Direct and the number of online visits to NHS Direct online by month. NHS Direct online does not require users to provide information on location and is mainly an anonymous service.
	
		
			  Date  Combined calls answered 
			  2003  
			 January 547,872 
			 February 509,293 
			 March 576,117 
			 April 579,994 
			 May 551,998 
			 June 523,626 
			 July 530,285 
			 August 518,882 
			 September 475,709 
			 October 511,835 
			 November 545,826 
			 December 570,636 
			   
			  2004  
			 January 548,523 
			 February 505,760 
			 March 541,404 
			 April 544,879 
			 May 554,454 
			 June 497,347 
			 July 526,320 
			 August 530,191 
			 September 493,979 
			 October 536,500 
			 November 536,052 
			 December 615,693 
			   
			  2005  
			 January 619,178 
			 February 518.242 
			 March 611,515 
			 April 558,860 
			 May 593,367 
			 June 553,523 
			 July 570,075 
			 August 539,704 
			 September 516,687 
			 October 569,768 
			 November 539,382 
			 December 614,238 
			   
			  2006  
			 January 629,590 
			 February 548,812 
			 March 576,279 
			 April 578,772 
			 May 558,538 
			 June 513,125 
			 July 548,480 
			 August 488,427 
		
	
	
		
			  Date  Web visits (Thousand) 
			 December 2004 728 
			   
			  2005  
			 January 965 
			 February 930 
			 March 1,034 
			 April 1,062 
			 May 1,063 
			 June 1,013 
			 July 963 
			 August 1,002 
			 September 992 
			 October 1,072 
			 November 1,074 
			 December 860 
			   
			  2006  
			 January 1,459 
			 February 1,415 
			 March 1,562 
			 April 1,461 
			 May 1,598 
			 June 1,562 
			 July 1,700 
			 August 1,689 
			  Note: Combined calls includes calls to 0845 46 47 and out of hours calls. Source: NHS Direct National Operations Centre.

NHS Operations

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS operations were cancelled in  (a) Suffolk,  (b) Bedfordshire,  (c) Cambridgeshire,  (d) Essex,  (e) Hertfordshire and  (f) Norfolk in each year since 1997.

Andy Burnham: Information is not held in the format requested. The Department collects data on the number of operations cancelled at the last minute for non-clinical reasons. The table shows the latest data available for the period April to June 2006, as published on 25 August 2006, for the number of operations cancelled at the last minute for non-clinical reasons for acute trusts in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, Essex and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire areas. Information prior to 2001 is not available broken down by acute trust.
	
		
			  Last minute cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons, national health service organisations in England, 2001-02 to 2005-06 
			  Organisation  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 213 212 266 286 278 
			 Bedford Hospital NHS Trust 793 152 180 201 190 
			 East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust 345 266 557 505 856 
			 Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust 444 741 815 800 439 
			 Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust 379 208 171 169 173 
			 Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust 264 419 470 447 370 
			 Southend Hospital NHS Trust 400 509 691 1,007 869 
			 The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust 493 323 262 213 311 
			 West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 562 244 815 666 621 
			  Source:Department of Health dataset QMCO

NHS Training Budgets

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health authorities have announced reductions in their training budgets; and what the  (a) percentage reduction and  (b) cash amount of the reduction is in each case.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 19 October 2006
	Strategic health authorities are still in the process of finalising determining their training budgets but some reductions in funding for training compared with the increased budgets of 2006-07 is inevitable.

NICE

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she made of the extent to which the submissions which the Department of Health has put to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence about the Alzheimer's drugs appraisal have been addressed.

Andy Burnham: Responses to consultations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are published on NICE'S website. This includes the Department's responses to the two consultations on the appraisal of drugs for Alzheimer's disease together with the appraisal committee's comments. I am confident that the appraisal committee has given appropriate consideration to all the responses it received.

NICE

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether primary care trusts may refuse funding for a treatment based on an appraisal consultation document from a National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Technology Appraisal.

Andy Burnham: An appraisal consultation document from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) does not constitute NICE's final guidance to the national health service. In the absence of NICE guidance the NHS is expected to take into account available evidence when deciding whether or not to fund a treatment.

Patient and Public Involvement Forums

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what role local involvement networks will have; and in what ways the role of local involvement networks are intended to be different to that of patient and public involvement forums.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 24 October 2006
	The Government believe that people have a range of opportunities for having real influence over their health and social care services. A stronger local voice, copies of which are available in the Library, set out plans for developing local involvement networks (LINks), which would be set up to gather the views and experiences of people on their health and social care services.
	One of the fundamental strengths of LINks is that they will relate to both health and social care, providing a joined up way of considering the entire patient journey. They are therefore not limited to the remit of patient forums, which focused solely on health issues. In addition, the intention is that LINks should have a flexible structure so that they can best adapt to local circumstances.

PCT Allocations

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 August to question 13422, if she will set out each allocation or target share of each of the four elements used to set primary care trust's actual allocations for each primary care trust based on both present and future restructured boundaries.

Andy Burnham: 2006-07 allocations were made to 303 primary care trusts (PCTs). The number of PCTs was reduced from 303 to 152 on 1 October 2006. Where the new PCT was a merger of two or more former PCTs, the allocations for the new PCTs are the sum of allocations for the former PCTs. In the few places where former PCTs divided between two or more new PCTs, the weighted capitation targets and distances from targets are estimated for the new PCTs.
	Information on the four elements used to set 2006-07 allocations for the 303 PCTs is shown in section 4, tables 4.1 and 4.2 of the 2006-07 and 2007-08 PCT revenue resource limits exposition book. This is available in the Library and at www.dh.gov.uk/allocations.
	The same information for the 152 PCTs has been in placed in the Library.

Pregnancy Care

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the basis was for the recent statement by the chief executive of the NHS that pregnant women are best served by large consultant-led services; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Any decisions about reconfiguration of services should be made at a local level. Our clear commitment is that by 2009, all women will have choice over where and how they have their baby, and this should include offering services in a range of settings, including hospitals, midwifery led units and at home. The choices offered to women should fall within the safety net of an emergency network that is readily available, should the need arise.

Ravenscourt Park Hospital

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals have been earmarked to take patients that would previously have been treated at Ravenscourt Park Hospital's orthopaedic unit.

Andy Burnham: Most patients who would previously have been treated at Ravenscourt Park Hospital will receive treatment at Charing Cross, St. Mary's, Northwick Park and West Middlesex Hospitals. These hospitals initially referred patients to Ravenscourt Park Hospital. From January 2006 patients in England have been able to expect their general practitioners to offer them choice from four or more national health service trusts or other service providers commissioned by their primary care trusts so people formerly referred to Ravenscourt Park could have gone to other places as well.

Sentinal Node Biopsy

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to encourage NHS trusts to sign up for the New Start training programme relating to sentinal node biopsy;
	(2)  which NHS trusts have not yet signed up in each relevant area for the New Start training programme relating to sentinal node biopsy;
	(3)  how many trusts are undertaking sentinal node biopsy; and how many such biopsies have been undertaken.

Rosie Winterton: The Department contributed £150,000 towards the development of the sentinel node biopsy training programme run by the Raven Department at the Royal College of Surgeons in 2004. Data are not collected centrally on the number of national health service (NHS) trusts signed up to undertake the programme, which ones are carrying out the procedure or the number of procedures undertaken by the NHS. It is for cancer networks to work in partnership with strategic health authorities and postgraduate deaneries to put in place a sustainable process to assess, plan and review their workforce needs and the education and training of all staff linked to local and national priorities for cancer including the implementation of National Institute of Clinical Excellence improving outcomes guidance on breast cancer.

Thames Gateway/Stratford City

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the additional population from the  (a) Thames Gateway and  (b) Stratford City developments which will need to be covered by hospital provision in the area; and which hospitals will be affected.

Andy Burnham: This is a local matter. However, officials have been advised by National Health Service London that an additional population increase is anticipated as a direct result of the Thames Gateway development in north east London, which includes Stratford City, and that all of the hospitals in north east London will be affected by this population increase.
	Departmental officials work closely with Department for Communities and Local Government on the development of the Thames Gateway and are currently liaising on the development of a cross-government Thames Gateway strategic framework, which will set out further action to support this housing growth area.
	I understand that considerable analysis has been done by the local NHS as to how demand will change as a result of this increase and how it will be met. It should also be noted that this growth will take place alongside natural population growth of a similar magnitude.
	The revenue allocations to primary care trusts for 2006-07 and 2007-08 include projected increases in populations. This means we are using the best available population data which properly takes account of the challenges faced in areas with growing populations.

Therapists

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many practising talking therapists were employed within the NHS, broken down by primary care trust, in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how many  (a) trained counsellors and  (b) therapists trained in (i) cognitive behavioural therapy, (ii) cognitive analytical therapy, (iii) psychodynamic psychotherapy and (iv) behavioural psychotherapy were employed within the NHS in each of the last 10 years, broken down by primary care trust; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: This information has been placed in the Library.
	The annual work force census records the number of qualified clinical psychologists, qualified psychotherapists and the number of qualified nurses in psychiatry. Information on an individuals qualifications and training is not collected centrally.
	Primary care trusts (PCTs) were first created in 2001, so qualified clinical psychologists and qualified psychotherapists are recorded by PCT since then.
	Since 1995, the number of qualified clinical psychologists has increased by 3,792 (114 per cent.), the number of qualified psychotherapists has increased by 696 (178 per cent.) and the number of qualified nurses in psychiatry has increased by 10,063 (26 per cent.).

Trust Outturns

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment the Government has made of the financial outturn of the  (a) Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust and  (b) Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust in (i) 2003-04, (ii) 2004-05 and (iii) 2005-06; and what the estimated outturn is of each for 2006-07.

Andy Burnham: The 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 final accounts and forecast 2006-07 outturn (quarter one) for Royal Surrey County Hospital National Health Service Trust and Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT) are shown as follows.
	
		
			  £000 
			   Organisation 
			   Guildford and Waverley PCT  Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust 
			  Final accounts   
			 2003-04 58 (1,549) 
			 2004-05 (5,887) 262 
			 2005-06 (2,027) 279 
			
			  Forecast outturn based on quarter one   
			 2006-07 (13,052) 0

Waiting Times

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time in hospitals within the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority was for a person referred by a general practitioner to see a hospital consultant in each year since 1997.

Andy Burnham: The median waiting time for a first out-patient appointment following referral by a general practitioner in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire area is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Median waiting time for first outpatient appointment following GP referral for all organisations within Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire strategic health authority (SHA) 
			  Period   Median (weeks) 
			  March   
			 1997 Q01 7.0 
			 1998 Q01 6.9 
			 1999 Q01 7.9 
			 2000 Q01 7.9 
			 2001 Q01 7.7 
			 2002 Q01 8.2 
			 2003 Q01 7.2 
			 2004 Q01 7.2 
			 2005 Q01 7.2 
			 2006 Q01 5.6 
			
			  June   
			 2007 Q01 5.7 
			  Source:Provider based QM08

Accident and Emergency Departments

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 23 October 2006,  Official Report, column 1544W, on Northern Ireland accident and emergency departments, how many emergency admissions there were to hospitals in Northern Ireland where the primary or secondary diagnosis was  (a) an alcohol-related condition and  (b) a combination of an alcohol-related condition and an injury in each of the last three years.

Paul Goggins: Information on the number of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition or a combination of an alcohol-related condition and an injury is presented as follows, for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 (the latest year for which data are available).
	 (a) The number of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition.
	
		
			   Number of emergency admissions( 1)  for alcohol related conditions 
			 2003-04 6,062 
			 2004-05 6,581 
			 2005-06 6,618 
		
	
	 (b) The number of emergency admissions(1) to hospitals in Northern Ireland, where the primary or secondary diagnosis was a combination of an alcohol-related condition and an injury.
	
		
			   Number of emergency admissions( 1)  for alcohol related conditions and injuries 
			 2003-04 1,713 
			 2004-05 1,648 
			 2005-06 1,606 
			 (1 )Discharges and deaths are used as an approximation to admissions. It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission. Source: Hospital Inpatient System

Appointments

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many  (a) Protestant,  (b) Roman Catholic and  (c) non-determined appointees there have been to (i) the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland, (ii) general service grades of the Civil Service in Northern Ireland and (iii) the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in the last 12 months; and what percentage of appointees this represents in each case.

David Hanson: The following table shows how many people have been appointed through open competition to the bodies specified over the period 1 October 2005 to date. The figures for the appointees to the general service grades in the Northern Ireland Civil Service include appointees to the Child Support Agency.
	
		
			   Protestant  Roman Catholic  Non-Determined  Total 
			   Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number 
			 NI Civil Service 747 46.5 833 51.8 27 1.7 1607 
			 Child Support Agency 171 49.9 170 49.3 3 0.8 344 
			 NI Housing Executive 76 34.7 121 55.3 22 10.0 219

Government Social Research Service

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost was of the Government Social Research Service in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects have been completed by the Service in that period; and how many people are employed in the Service in his Department.

David Hanson: Social Research services within Government in Northern Ireland are delivered together with Statistical Services by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). Full details of the finances, staffing and activities of NISRA are published in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Agency and are laid before Parliament. The costs and total staff numbers for the last five years, are in the table. The Agency does not separately identify the cost of Social Research services and the figures shown exclude costs and staff associated with the registration service provided by the General Register Office (GRO). The number of publications produced by NISRA and noted in the Agency Annual Report for each of the five years is also shown.
	
		
			Staff numbers( 2 ) (excl GRO)  Publications 
			  Cost £000(1 )(excl GRO)  Core staff  Survey interviewers (fee-paid)  Statistical  Research 
			 2005-6 13,137 302 240 148 54 
			 2004-5 11,270 308 187 118 19 
			 2003-4 11,512 307 220 74 10 
			 2002-3 11,004 284 217 74 11 
			 2001-2 11,004 267 179 78 22 
			 (1 )The figures include the salary costs for NISRA staff outposted in Northern Ireland departments and other public bodies. They do not, however, include the costs borne directly by these bodies in support of outposted staff.(2) Staff numbers are on a headcount basis.

Investigatory Powers Tribunal

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints against the Security Service have been heard by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal since its establishment; in how many of those cases the complaint was upheld; and in how many such cases reasons for  (a) upholding and  (b) rejecting the complaint were given.

Tony McNulty: I have been asked to reply.
	The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Intelligence Services Commissioner each, in their respective annual reports, give the number of cases that the tribunal has decided. The number is not broken down by category.
	No complaint was upheld. The tribunal do not give reasons in accordance with section 68 (4) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
	The available figures are:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2 October 2000-21 December 2001 71 
			 1 January-31 December 2002 94 
			 1 January-31 December 2003 100 
			 1 January-31 December 2004 115

NHS Staff (Attacks)

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many  (a) physical and  (b) verbal attacks on NHS staff have been recorded by (i) the Northern Ireland health boards and (ii) the ambulance service (1) in 2005-06 and (2) so far in 2006-07.

Paul Goggins: The number of recorded physical and verbal incidents for the period requested in board areas is as follows:
	
		
			   1 April 2006-30 September 2006  1 April 2005-31 March 2006 
			   Physical  Verbal  Physical  Verbal 
			 Eastern Board Area 1,077 355 1,999 763 
			 Northern Board Area 421 154 655 275 
			 Southern Board Area 277 171 401 309 
			 Western Board Area (1)570 (2)246 496 406 
			  
			  NI Ambulance Service 
			 Breakdown not available by board area 45 35 38 31 
			 (1) Due to a delay in reporting for some units Foyle trust figures do not include a full month for September.(2) Due to a delay in reporting for some units Foyle trust figures do not include a full month for September.

Nurses

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many student nurses in Northern Ireland have temporarily withdrawn from their courses in each of the last three years; what percentage of the student cohort in each year that figure represents; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Goggins: The number of student nurses who have temporarily withdrawn from their course in each of the last three years and the corresponding percentage is set out as follows.
	
		
			  Table of temporary withdrawals during last three academic years 1 September to 31 August 
			  Academic year  Number in training  Temporary withdrawals  Percentage of total cohort 
			 2005-06 2,337 180 7.7 
			 2004-05 2,548 88 3.5 
			 2003-04 2,235 63 2.8 
			  Source: Queens University Belfast, University of Ulster

Plastic Bags

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of plastic bags produced for the local retail sector in each of the last three years; what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of plastic bags; what initiatives his Department is supporting to reduce the number of plastic bags  (a) produced and  (b) handed out; and whether he has plans to introduce a plastic bag levy.

David Cairns: There are no statistics on the number of plastic bags produced or used in Northern Ireland. However, UK figures show UK consumers use an estimated 10 billion plastic bags a year. Plastic bags account for approximately 0.3 per cent. of the domestic waste stream and 0.1 to 1 per cent. of visible litter in the UK.
	The Department of the Environment is committed to a DEFRA led initiative to produce a UK-wide voluntary code of practice for retailers aimed at reducing the number of plastic and paper bags given to customers. It is hoped that all the major retailers will sign up to the code and agree to set targets for a reduction in the number of disposable bags handed out at the point of sale. The Department also supports a number of other initiatives including Baglady Productions' NEEDabag 2 project which aims to encourage alternatives to plastic bags, promote recycling, encourage people to refuse plastic bags and increase awareness of all issues relating to litter and waste and the "Wake up to Waste—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" campaign aimed at raising consumer awareness of waste management issues and the part each person can play in reducing the amount of waste we produce.
	The UK Government have no plans to introduce a plastic bag levy.

Post Office Card Account

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many payments of each social security benefit are paid by the Social Security Agency into  (a) Post Office Card Accounts and  (b) bank accounts.

David Hanson: The latest figures (September 2006) for the information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Direct payments September 2006 
			  Benefit description  Bank/building society account  Post office card account 
			 Retirement Pensions 329,089 411,216 
			 Carer's Allowance 58,556 53,022 
			 Job Seekers Allowance 35,476 13,701 
			 Training Allowance 5,183 1,256 
			 Disability Living Allowance 109,200 78,635 
			 Income Support 281,717 365,173 
			 Incapacity Benefit 116,090 81,706 
			 Attendance Allowance 60,426 129,540 
			 Social Fund 4,209 3,335 
			 Industrial Injuries Benefit 19,894 15,618

Public Housing

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the potential effect of new build public housing on the waiting times for public housing in  (a) Belfast and  (b) Northern Ireland of members of each community background.

David Hanson: All social housing including new build is allocated on the basis of greatest housing need and in accordance with the Common Selection Scheme which was equality proofed and subject to detailed consultation.
	It would not be legal for the Housing Executive under the Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, to allocate housing on any other basis than need.
	The social Housing Development Programme attempts to meet housing need but is constrained in some areas by the lack of suitable development land.

Roads Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total expenditure by the Roads Service on roads maintenance in Northern Ireland was in each of the last five years, broken down by district council area.

David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
	 Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 30 October 2006:
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding what the total expenditure by the Roads Service on roads' maintenance in Northern Ireland was in each of the last five years, broken down by district council area.
	I have been asked to reply as these issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
	The table attached at Annex 1 shows the total expenditure incurred by Roads Service on maintenance activities during the period 2001-02 to 2005-06 broken down by district council area.
	I hope this information is helpful.
	
		
			  Annex 1: Roads Service maintenance expenditure from 2001-02 to 2005-06 
			  £000 
			  District council  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Antrim 3,571 3,863 4,976 3,913 4,217 
			 Ballymena 4,350 4,011 5,354 5,020 5,493 
			 Carrickfergus 1,846 1,646 1,536 1,325 2,548 
			 Larne 1,907 2,205 2,432 2,316 2,632 
			 Magherafelt 2,107 2,668 3,449 3,029 3,424 
			 Belfast 13,496 14,517 14,895 15,123 14,914 
			 Castlereagh 2,519 2,183 2,327 2,178 3,251 
			 Newtownabbey 3,011 3,607 3,513 3,676 2,548 
			 Ballymoney 1,986 2,590 2,768 2,442 2,410 
			 Coleraine 3,723 3,740 5,167 3,960 3,327 
			 Limavady 2,331 2,636 3,555 3,156 2,847 
			 Londonderry 5, 745 7,290 6,067 5,655 5,324 
			 Moyle 1,114 1,448 1,808 1,835 2,111 
			 Armagh 4,359 4,542 5,482 5,863 4,756 
			 Banbridge 2,813 3,586 4,008 3,690 4,491 
			 Craigavon 4,050 4,991 5,258 5,380 4,135 
			 Newry and Mourne 5,456 5,256 7,069 7,567 7,376 
			 Ards 3,087 3,216 3,547 3,661 6,181 
			 Down 4,366 4,641 5,089 5,042 3,476 
			 Lisburn 5,141 6,225 7,081 7,369 6,375 
			 North Down 2,695 4,068 4,002 2,409 4,247 
			 Cookstown 2,328 2,600 3,282 3,026 2,605 
			 Dungannon 4,384 4,985 7,038 5,397 5,395 
			 Fermanagh 4,911 5,822 7,461 6,809 6,142 
			 Omagh 5,291 5,779 7,048 6,173 6,004 
			 Strabane 4,044 4,357 4,829 5,312 4,758 
			 Overall total 100,631 112,472 129,041 121,326 120,987 
		
	
	Maintenance expenditure includes all maintenance costs e.g. structural maintenance (includes resurfacing, reconstruction, surface dressing, patching etc.), routine maintenance (grassing cutting, gully emptying and environmental work), traffic management, street lighting and car park maintenance costs.

Roads Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were employed by the DRD Roads Service in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

David Cairns: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has written to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
	 Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin, dated 20 October 2006:
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question regarding how many people were employed by the DRD Roads Service in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.
	I have been asked to reply as these issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
	The tables attached at Annex 1 detail the number of industrial and non-industrial Roads Service staff employed in each of the last five years.
	I hope this information is helpful.
	
		
			  Annex 1: Non industrial staff (permanent) 
			   Staff in post as at April: 
			   2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			  Admin  
			 Chief Executive 2 1 1 1 1 
			 Director (G5) 2 2 2 2 2 
			 Principal Officer (G7) 5 8 9 9 10 
			 Deputy Principal 25 24 27 27 28 
			 Staff Officer 32 36 40 39 42 
			 Executive Officer I 38 46 46 54 53 
			 Executive Officer II 51 53 62 65 63 
			 Admin. Officer 173 184 181 180 181 
			 Admin. Assistant 90 86 94 91 93 
			 Sub total 418 440 462 468 473 
			   
			  Professional and Technical  
			 Director 2 2 2 2 2 
			 DRM eastern (G5) 1 1 1 1 0 
			 DDRM eastern (G6) 0 0 1 1 1 
			 Head of Bus Unit (G6) 3 4 4 4 4 
			 DRM (G6) 0 4 3 3 3 
			 PPTO 36 38 40 39 36 
			 SPTO 102 108 112 113 116 
			 HPTO 177 190 212 213 202 
			 Graduate Trainee 17 17 15 10 7 
			 PTO 344 335 349 392 415 
			 TCEA 26 24 31 19 8 
			 Tech Grade 1 Trainee 9 20 14 1 0 
			 Tech Grade 1 20 26 36 34 44 
			 Tech Grade 1 (DOA) 9 6 6 6 6 
			 Tech Grade 2 0 182 230 227 232 
			 Tech Grade 2 (Tracer) 2 2 2 2 2 
			 COW 7 6 6 0 0 
			 Sub total 755 965 1,064 1,067 1,078 
			   
			  Support  
			 Typing Manager 4 3 3 2 2 
			 Personal Secretary 12 13 13 13 12 
			 Typist 36 35 34 32 31 
			 Supt Office Manager 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Ass Supt Office Man. 1 1 1 1 1 
			 Supt Manager 3 1 1 1 1 0 
			   
			 SGB1 2 2 2 2 2 
			 SGB2 26 26 23 22 25 
			 Sub total 83 82 78 74 74 
			   
			 Total 1,256 (1)1,487 1,604 1,609 1,625 
			 (1) A total of 191 posts were re-graded from industrial to non-industrial staff in April 2003 for operational reasons. 
		
	
	
		
			  Non industrial staff (temporary) 
			   Staff in post as at April: 
			  Admin  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Administrative Assistant 17 6 3 4 5 
			 Professional and Technical 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Support 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 17 6 3 4 5 
		
	
	
		
			  Industrial staff 
			   Staff in post as at April: 
			   2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Craft 73 57 48 51 47 
			 Non craft 865 685 655 612 632 
			 Total 938 742 703 663 678

St. John's Home (Downpatrick)

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the bed occupancy was of St. Johns Home, Downpatrick in its various incarnations over the past five years.

Paul Goggins: The bed occupancy rate of St. John's House, Downpatrick over the last five years is presented in the following table:
	
		
			   Bed occupancy (percentage) 
			 2001-02 87 
			 2002-03 91 
			 2003-04 89 
			 2004-05 92 
			 2005-06 82 
			  Note: These figures exclude permanent residents in hospital.

Water/Sewerage Company

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how financial surpluses arising from the planned Government owned company to deliver water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland will be distributed; where the channels and beneficiaries of such surpluses will be defined; and if he will make a statement.

David Cairns: Final decisions in relation to the financial arrangements pertaining to the new company have not yet been taken. Surpluses will be retained by the company in the first instance. As the company is wholly owned by Government, such surpluses will benefit the taxpayer and/or the customer.

Water/Sewerage Company

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures are in place to prevent financial disbenefits falling on customers should the planned Government-owned water and sewerage company not meet efficiency targets.

David Cairns: Water and sewerage tariffs will initially be set by the Department for Regional Development (DRD) for the period from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Shaun Woodward, the then Minister with responsibility for regional development announced in a written ministerial statement on 8 December 2005, which can be viewed in full by accessing http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm051208/wmsindx/51208-x.htm, that for the period to 2009-10 average household bills would be in line with England and Wales average household bills. Thereafter it will be the responsibility of the Economic Regulator to set tariffs in common with practice in Great Britain. Beyond 2010 therefore, the Regulator will set price limits based on demanding efficiency assumptions. The Company will be incentivised to keep its running costs and the costs of maintaining assets to a minimum and to use cost-effective solutions to achieve outputs.
	The Company will be required to pay a dividend to DRD as its shareholder to reflect the cost of the taxpayer's investment in it. If a failure to meet an efficiency target reduces the Company's ability to pay the dividend to DRD (either in whole or in part), the amount not paid must be covered in the first instance from DRD's budget and not by customers.

Water/Sewerage Company

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how the resources arising from any asset disposal by the planned Government-owned water and sewerage company in Northern Ireland will be allocated; and under what authority this will be accomplished.

David Cairns: The Department is currently developing a draft licence under which the company will operate. The terms of the licence will determine how any proceeds from the disposal of land will be allocated. The draft licence will be issued for public consultation later this year. The licence will not however, deal with the disposal of other assets such as vehicles and plant and it will be for the company to decide how such proceeds should be allocated.

A-levels

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils studied for an A-level in  (a) physics,  (b) biology,  (c) chemistry and  (d) mathematics in the East Riding of Yorkshire in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Information on the numbers studying A-levels is not available centrally. The available information relates to those entered for examinations. The number of A-level entries by 16 to 18-year-olds in East Riding of Yorkshire for each requested subject is given in the following table.
	
		
			   Subject 
			   Biological sciences  Chemistry  Physics  Mathematics 
			 1996 263 218 150 270 
			 1997 290 227 167 317 
			 1998 243 186 145 284 
			 1999 278 214 180 310 
			 2000 247 194 175 324 
			 2001 245 180 165 308 
			 2002 280 168 154 220 
			 2003 256 160 155 251 
			 2004 223 158 126 243 
			 2005 244 171 147 250 
			 2006(1) 266 147 134 277 
			 (1) Provisional   Notes:  1. Figures for 2006 are provisional and may be subject to change.  2. Numbers entered for mathematics includes entries in further mathematics.

Departmental Contracts

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which contracts were awarded by his Department to Capita in each year from 2000-01 to 2005-06; what the cost was of each contract; what penalties for default were imposed on contract provisions; what the length was of each contract; and what provision was made for renewal without re-tender in each case.

Jim Knight: holding answer 26 October 2006
	A complete answer to this question could be supplied only at disproportionate cost. I can tell you, however, that the Department let the following major contracts to Capita in the years 2000-01 to 2005-06:
	
		
			  Contract  Year let  Contract length (year)  Contract value (£ million) 
			 Individual Learning Accounts 2000-01 (1)5 55 
			 Connexions Card 2001-02 (2)6 109 
			 Education Maintenance Allowances 2003-04 (3)5 48 
			 Teachers' Pensions 2003-04 7 61 
			 London Challenge 2004-05 1 1 
			 National Strategies 2005-06 5 180 
			 (1) Terminated October 2002.  (2) Terminated August 2006.  (3) Contract novated to Learning and Skills Council April 2005. 
		
	
	No contract has penalties for default as 'penalties' are not enforceable under English law. There are however a range of complex incentive mechanisms in operation.
	While some of these contracts have an in-built optional extension period as part of the original contract, no contracts will be renewed without re-tender.

Education Funding

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils who received the Education Maintenance Allowance did not gain an A-level qualification in each year since 2004.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 26 October 2006
	EMA was only rolled out nationally from September 2004. It will soon be possible to investigate the impact of the national roll-out of EMA on attainment up to level 3 (A levels and equivalent), as many of that first 16 year old cohort have now gained qualifications. Their first major set of qualifications results will be available December 2006 and the LSC will commission analysis of the achievement data at this point—the results are expected in summer 2007.

Exclusions

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students have been excluded permanently from schools in Suffolk in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The requested information is given in the table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary, secondary and special schools: number and percentage of permanent exclusions 1997/98 to 2004/05 Suffolk local authority area 
			   Permanent exclusions 
			   Primary schools  Secondary schools  Special schools  Total ( 1) 
			   Number  Percentage( 2)  Number  Percentage( 2)  Number  Percentage( 2)  Number  Percentage 
			 1997/98 13 0.03 104 0.21 12 1.38 130 0.13 
			 1998/99 18 0.04 106 0.21 0 0.00 120 0.12 
			 1999/2000 23 0.05 77 0.15 0 0.00 100 0.10 
			 2000/01 (3) 13 0.03 133 0.25 (4)— (4)— 150 0.14 
			 2001/02 (3) 26 0.05 135 0.25 0 0.00 160 0.16 
			 2002/03 (3) 22 0.05 126 0.23 (4)— (4)— 150 0.15 
			 2003/04 (3) 32 0.07 161 0.30 (4)— (4)— 200 0.19 
			 2004/05 (3) 20 0.04 126 0.23 (4)— (4)— 150 0.15 
			 (1) Totals across all school types have been rounded to the nearest 10.(2) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the school population.(3) Figures are as confirmed by local authorities via the data checking exercise.(4) 1 or 2 exclusions or a rate based on 1 or 2 exclusions. Source: Schools' Census

Faith Schools

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many faith schools there are in  (a) Romford,  (b) Havering and  (c) all London boroughs.

Jim Knight: The requested information for Romford parliamentary constituency is given in the table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : number of schools by religious character, January 2006, Romford parliamentary constituency 
			   Maintained primary  Maintained secondary 
			 No religious character 19 3 
			 Church of England 2 1 
			 Roman Catholic 2 1 
			 Methodist 0 0 
			 Other Christian faith(2) 0 0 
			 Jewish 0 0 
			 Muslim 0 0 
			 Sikh 0 0 
			 Other 0 0 
			 Total 23 5 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.(2) Includes schools of mixed denomination and other Christian beliefs. Source:Schools' Census and EduBase 
		
	
	The same information for each local authority area has been placed in the Library.

Faith Schools

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many applications for the establishment of voluntary aided Muslim faith schools are being considered.

Jim Knight: Proposals for new schools, including faith schools, are decided locally. The Secretary of State plays no part in the decision process.
	We have been informed of one proposal to establish a new maintained Muslim school that has not yet been decided. Proposals were published on 28 July 2006, by the trustees of the independent Bolton Muslim girls school to establish the school as a maintained secondary school with effect from 1 September 2007. We understand that the proposals will be considered by Bolton School Organisation Committee shortly.

Foreign Languages

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which foreign languages are taught at each school in Easington constituency.

Jim Knight: The Department does not collect such information and can not therefore give information specific to Easington. All primary schools are able to offer language learning programmes for which they have access to expertise.
	At Key Stage 3, language learning is compulsory. Schools must first offer language courses in one or more of the official working languages of the European Union. Once this offer has been made schools can offer courses in any other modern foreign language.
	At Key Stage 4, where compulsion was replaced by a statutory entitlement in September 2004, schools must provide access to at least one course in an official working language of the European Union. Schools may in addition offer courses in any other modern foreign language that lead to approved qualifications.

GCSEs

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of  (a) 15-year-olds and  (b) pupils at the end of the fourth key stage who achieved five or more GCSEs at A* to C also achieved A* to C in (i) mathematics, (ii) English, (iii) science, (iv) a modern foreign language, (v) English and mathematics, (vi) English, mathematics and science, (vii) English, mathematics, science and a modern foreign language in 2006.

Jim Knight: The information is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Pupils obtaining 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent including the following subjects 
			   15 year old  End KS4 
			Percentage   Percentage 
			   Number  Of cohort  Of those obtaining 5+ A*-C  Number  Of cohort  Of those obtaining 5+ A*-C 
			 5+ A*-C 377,832 58.1 100.0 380,568 59.0 100.0 
			 Mathematics 315,475 48.5 83.5 317,836 49.3 83.5 
			 English 338,249 52.0 89.5 340,466 52.8 89.5 
			 Science 306,752 47.2 81.2 309,252 48.0 81.3 
			 Modern foreign language 197,461 30.4 52.3 199,278 30.9 52.4 
			 English and mathematics 293,154 45.1 77.6 294,982 45.8 77.5 
			 English, mathematics and science 262,718 40.4 69.5 264,410 41.0 69.5 
			 English, mathematics, science and modern foreign language 167,046 25.7 44.2 168,145 26.1 44.2

GCSEs

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of  (a) 15-year-olds and  (b) pupils at the end of the fourth key stage sat GCSEs in (i) chemistry, (ii) biology, (iii) physics and (iv) chemistry, biology and physics in each year since 1996.

Jim Knight: The information is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  15-year-old pupils 
			   2006  2005  2004  2003  2002  2001 
			 Number of 15-year-old pupils 649,905 636,771 643,560 622,122 606,554 603,318 
			 Attempts in physics 47,948 44,678 42,501 40,064 38,640 38,455 
			 Percentage attempting physics 7.4 7.0 6.6 6.4 6.4 6.4 
			 Attempts in chemistry 48,383 45,144 43,073 40,865 39,067 38,797 
			 Percentage attempting chemistry 7.4 7.1 6.7 6.6 6.4 6.4 
			 Attempts in biology 50,860 47,485 44,758 42,623 40,526 40,456 
			 Percentage attempting biology 7.8 7.5 7.0 6.9 6.7 6.7 
			 Attempts in physics, chemistry and biology 45,572 42,329 40,250 37,836 36,223 35,906 
			 Percentage attempting physics, chemistry and biology 7.0 6.6 6.3 6.1 6.0 6.0 
		
	
	
		
			   2000  1999  1998  1997  1996 
			 Number of 15-year-old pupils 580,393 580,972 575,210 586,766 594,035 
			 Attempts in physics 37,532 37,205 36,205 34,541 35,727 
			 Percentage attempting physics 6.5 6.4 6.3 5.9 6.0 
			 Attempts in chemistry 37,699 37,640 36,544 35,154 36,279 
			 Percentage attempting chemistry 6.5 6.5 6.4 6.0 6.1 
			 Attempts in biology 39,376 38,785 37,890 36,641 37,576 
			 Percentage attempting biology 6.8 6.7 6.6 6.2 6.3 
			 Attempts in physics, chemistry and biology 34,820 34,381 33,286 31,567 32,261 
			 Percentage attempting physics, chemistry and biology 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.4 5.4 
		
	
	
		
			  Pupils at the end of key stage 4 
			   2006  2005 
			 Number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 644,658 633,414 
			 Attempts in physics 48,752 45,437 
			 Percentage attempting physics 7.6 7.2 
			 Attempts in chemistry 49,217 45,929 
			 Percentage attempting chemistry 7.6 7.3 
			 Attempts in biology 51,758 48,347 
			 Percentage attempting biology 8.0 7.6 
			 Attempts in physics, chemistry and biology 46,359 43,032 
			 Percentage attempting physics, chemistry and biology 7.2 6.8

GCSEs

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils from independent schools achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in each year since 1996.

Jim Knight: The following table shows the percentage of 15-year-old pupils in independent schools achieving five or more GCSEs or equivalents at grades A* to C including English and mathematics.
	
		
			  Independent school pupils achieving 5+ A*-C at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics 
			   Percentage 
			 1996 75.7 
			 1997 75.8 
			 1998 75.9 
			 1999 82.5 
			 2000 83.2 
			 2001 83.0 
			 2002 78.5 
			 2003 77.8 
			 2004 76.7 
			 2005 73.9 
			 2006 68.3 
			  Note: Data for 2006 are provisional. Data for all other years are final.

GCSEs

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieved seven or more GCSEs at A* to C in each year since 1996.

Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number and percentage of 15-year-old pupils( 1)  achieving the following GCSEs or equivalents 
			   7 or more A*-C grades 
			   Number  Percentage 
			 1996 175,509 34.1 
			 1997 177,338 34.8 
			 1998 178,848 35.3 
			 1999 190,776 33.5 
			 2000 196,402 34.7 
			 2001 245,460 39.5 
			 2002 255,352 40.7 
			 2003 269,471 42.9 
			 2004 283,863 43.8 
			 2005 296,889 46.6 
			 2006 313,648 48.3 
			 (1 )Aged 15 at the start of the academic year i.e. 31 August.

Mature Students

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of mature students born before 1979 undertaking a foundation degree, who now require a GCSE or equivalent in science to apply to enter the teaching profession; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: We do not have information on those undertaking a foundation degree who intend to apply to enter the teaching profession and do not hold a GCSE or equivalent in science.

Performance Monitoring

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what  (a) performance management and  (b) key performance indicators have been put in place to monitor the service quality for the (i) key stage 3 strategy and (ii) strategic improvement partner initiative; and what external scrutiny of each will take place.

Jim Knight: holding answer 26 October 2006
	The services provided by the national strategies, whether as part of the secondary strategy (formerly the key stage 3 strategy) or specific programmes like school improvement partners (SIPs) are set out annually in the national strategies annual plan. The Department has set in place governance arrangements for monitoring the quality and progress of specific programmes set out in the annual plan. The detailed key indicators measuring the performance of the national strategies' contractor are commercially confidential.
	In the case of the SIPs programme, there is a quality assurance framework covering both the initial accreditation and impact of SIPs. This framework together with the progress reports have been shared with all local authorities (LAs) who are responsible for the delivery of the SIPs programme, as well as representatives of the teaching profession who form part of a wider consultative group.
	The Department uses a variety of mechanisms for evaluating quality, progress and impact of the national strategies including: the strategies' own quality assurance processes; Ofsted; the Prime Ministers delivery unit on specific aspects of delivery; and externally commission evaluations from research organisations such as the National Foundation for Education Research (NfER).

Pupil Numbers

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils there were in  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in (i) rural and (ii) non-rural areas in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : number (headcount) of pupils in schools by urban/rural classification as at January each year—England 
			   Maintained primary( 1)  Maintained secondary( 1) 
			   Urban( 2,3)  Rural( 2,4)  Unknown( 5)  Total  Urban( 2,3)  Rural( 2,4)  Unknown( 5)  Total 
			 1997 3,695,440 731,570 2,040 4,429,040 2,639,310 401,070 1,200 3,041,580 
			 1998 3,713,190 745,410 2,050 4,460,650 2,664,870 406,700 1,250 3,072,820 
			 1999 3,707,910 751,190 1,070 4,460,170 2,702,510 414,950 4,430 3,121,900 
			 2000 3,682,050 752,940 350 4,435,350 2,755,240 425,320 1,250 3,181,810 
			 2001 3,652,880 752,990 340 4,406,220 2,795,970 434,630 1,240 3,231,830 
			 2002 3,611,780 751,200 360 4,363,340 2,821,070 441,830 1,190 3,264,090 
			 2003 3,560,730 747,950 360 4,309,030 2,856,440 450,410 1,190 3,308,030 
			 2004 3,507,820 744,380 350 4,252,540 2,868,110 455,610 1,230 3,324,950 
			 2005 3,463,500 740,660 340 4,204,500 2,857,480 457,370 1,200 3,316,050 
			 2006 3,416,700 731,810 440 4,148,950 2,846,290 458,510 1,990 3,306,780 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.  (2) Urban/rural classification for schools is based on the school's current postcode.  (3) Includes schools in urban > 10,000 (sparse and less sparse) classifications.  (4) Includes schools in hamlet and isolated dwelling (sparse and less sparse), town and fringe (sparse and less sparse), village (sparse and less sparse) classifications.  (5) School's postcode was invalid and therefore could not be matched to urban/rural classification.   Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown.   Source:  Pupil numbers—Schools' Census. Urban/rural classification—Derived from Urban/Rural Classification 2004. Produced in conjunction with The Countryside Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Office of National Statistics and Welsh Assembly Government.

School Buildings

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to promote higher environmental building standards in new schools.

Jim Knight: DfES requires all major new build and refurbishment projects in schools register with the Building Research Establishment and carry out a BREEAM Schools Environmental Assessment. We expect these projects to achieve a very good or excellent rating using the assessment method. This ensures that all these projects are built to very good environmental standards.

Sex Education

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make it his policy to encourage teenagers to abstain from sexual intercourse before the age of 16 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: All schools are required by law to have regard to the Department's guidance on 'Sex and Relationship Education' (2000). This guidance clearly states that learning the reasons for delaying sexual activity, and the benefits to be gained from such delay should form part of a comprehensive programme of sex and relationship education.

Special Educational Needs

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of mainstream school pupils in  (a) Ribble Valley and  (b) Lancashire have a statement of educational needs.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Mainstream schools: Number and percentage of pupils with statements of SEN( 1) —January 2006—Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency and Lancashire local authority 
			   Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency  Lancashire local authority 
			Pupils with statements of SEN   Pupils with statements of SEN 
			   Total pupils  Number  Percentage  Total pupils  Number  Percentage 
			 Maintained nursery 94 3 3.2 2,071 30 1.4 
			 Maintained primary(2) 8,398 173 2.1 93,209 2,396 2.6 
			 Maintained secondary(2) 8,810 190 2.2 75,123 2,198 2.9 
			 Total mainstream 17,302 366 2.1 170,403 4,624 2.7 
			 (1) Excludes dually registered pupils. (2) Includes middle schools as deemed.  Source: Schools' Census

Speech and Language Provision

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many local education authorities have strategic partnerships in place with local health authorities for the provision of speech and language provision in  (a) early years and  (b) pre-school settings;
	(2)  what provision is made for children with speech and language difficulties in early years and pre-school settings; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what guidance is issued by his Department on early intervention for children with speech and language difficulties in pre-school settings;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of early intervention for children with speech and language difficulties.

Parmjit Dhanda: Under section 10 of the Children Act 2004 all local authorities and 'relevant partners', including health, are under a duty to improve a child's well-being. This underpins the children's trust approach. Local priorities for action, including speech and language provision, will be informed by a needs assessment which will be carried out in partnership by all involved in the planning process.
	Local authorities themselves have a critical role in co-ordinating, commissioning and brokering services such as speech and language therapy. They develop multi-agency teams to work in partnership through Sure Start Children's Centres, other early years providers and extended schools to respond to the needs of individual children. When a practitioner in an early years setting identifies a child in need of specialist provision, support will be available from the local authority.
	We have put in place various measures to support local authorities and settings intervene early on speech and language difficulties. These include the following.
	The Joint Planning and Commissioning Framework for Children, Young People, and Maternity Services, published in March 2006, aims to help local partners put in place a unified planning and commissioning system. The framework supports integrated working on improving outcomes and making best use of resources, and will join up services so that children and young people with multiple needs experience a seamless service.
	Early years practice will be delivered through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), a high quality framework for learning and care which all registered settings will be required to work within. It is being developed to allow early years practitioners to meet the individual needs of all children in their care, enabling them to take into account the particular needs of each child. Practitioners must provide relevant, developmental-appropriate learning opportunities and set realistic and challenging expectations that meet the diverse needs of babies and young children.
	Supporting this practice, the Early Support Programme—a DFES/RNID led partnership aimed at co-ordinating services for young disabled children or children with SEN aged 0 to 5—has also, in partnership with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, developed a wide range of practical resources and training materials that can support the communication needs of children. This is available to local authorities and to settings.
	The Sure Start Children's Centre practice guidance, first issued in November 2005, recognises the importance of speech and languages support, and covers development of this in detail, demonstrating how it improves children's outcomes. We have based the guidance on experiences of centres themselves and evidence highlighted through evaluation and research. The guidance explains the key role children's centres can play in the positive promotion of children's speech and language development, and offers advice and guidance on delivery and good practice.
	Although not focused directly on speech and language, the Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) project, conducted in association with the Effective Practice in Pre-school Education (EPPE) longitudinal study, concluded in 2003 that pre-school provision was an effective intervention for reducing SEN, including communication difficulties, especially for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children. The National Evaluation of Sure Start has been assessing the interventions made by Sure Start Local Programmes on young children's language development. The results of this will be available next year.

Teachers and Teaching Assistants

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) teachers and  (b) teaching assistants were employed in Lancashire in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) each of the preceding five years.

Jim Knight: The following table shows the full-time equivalent number of teachers and teaching assistants employed in local authority maintained schools in Lancashire local authority in January 2001 to 2006.
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent regular teachers (excluding occasionals) and teaching assistants in local authority maintained schools in Lancashire local authority, January 2001 to 2006 
			   2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Teachers(1) 9,710 9,640 9,710 9,920 9,910 9,950 
			 Teaching Assistants(2) 2,190 1,960 3,130 3,300 3,570 3,890 
			 (1) Survey of teachers in service and teacher vacancies, (618g).(2) Annual School Census. Note:Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Aggregates Levy

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much revenue has been raised by the aggregates levy in each year since its introduction;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the aggregates levy on  (a) the development of alternative materials and  (b) the consumption of virgin aggregates;
	(3)  how many quarries in  (a) Lincolnshire and  (b) the United Kingdom are registered as qualifying to pay the aggregates levy;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the impact of the aggregates levy on the competitiveness of British industry and business.

John Healey: The following table gives aggregates levy receipts in each year since its introduction in April 2002.
	
		
			  Aggregates levy receipts 
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 2002-03 247 
			 2003-04 339 
			 2004-05 334 
			 2005-06 326 
		
	
	The aggregates levy has been effective in achieving its environmental objectives. Since its introduction sales of virgin aggregate in Great Britain have reduced significantly, set against a backdrop of strong economic growth and buoyant construction activity, while the production of recycled aggregates has increased.
	The Annual Minerals Raised Inquiry, undertaken by the Office for National Statistics, gives figures for virgin aggregate sales in Great Britain since 2000 as follows:
	
		
			  Sales of virgin aggregate in Great Britain 2000-05 
			   Million tonnes 
			 2000 219.5 
			 2001 222.0 
			 2002 209.3 
			 2003 203.1 
			 2004 213.7 
			 2005 204.3 
		
	
	Data on recycled aggregates in England come from surveys of "Arisings and Use of Construction, Demolition and Excavation Waste as Aggregate", commissioned by the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The last survey was run in 2003.
	
		
			  Construction demolition and excavation waste crushed and/or screened for use as aggregate in England 
			   Million tonnes 
			 1999 22.1 
			 2001 36.5 
			 2003 39.6 
		
	
	There are around 730 registrations for aggregates levy. It is not possible to disaggregate this figure into quarries registered in a particular county because many businesses register addresses other than the quarry itself or register one central address covering many separate quarry sites.
	The impact of the aggregates levy on the competitiveness of UK industry is one of the factors taken into account in Budget decisions. The levy's design protects the international competitiveness of UK businesses by taxing imports of virgin aggregate and relieving exports.

Agricultural Taxation

Anne Begg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what tax revenue accrued to the Exchequer from the UK agricultural sector in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: Comprehensive information is not available.
	Available information is given as follows:
	Income tax and national insurance contributions—relevant information on income tax and national insurance contributions are available for income tax and class 1 contributions deducted through PAYE. These estimates are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Agriculture, forestry and fishing (SIC 1992 Sections A,B) 
			   PAYE deductions of income tax and class 1 NICs (£ billion) 
			 1997-98 0.7 
			 1998-99 0.6 
			 1999-2000 0.7 
			 2000-01 0.6 
			 2001-02 0.6 
			 2002-03 0.7 
			 2003-04 (provisional) 0.8 
		
	
	Corporation tax—the estimates for 2000-01 onwards are published in table 11.7 on the HMRC website. The link is:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/menu.htm.
	The figures for 1997-98 to 1999-2000 are as follows:
	
		
			   Agriculture, forestry and fishing (£ million) 
			 1997-98 106 
			 1998-99 86 
			 1999-2000 90 
		
	
	VAT—Most outputs from the UK agricultural sector fall under the VAT zero rate for food and as such the sector overall receives VAT repayments.
	HMRC does not collect information on excise duties and other taxes attributable to purchases of fuel, alcohol etc. by the agricultural sector.

Child Trust Funds (Hendon)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Hendon have taken up child trust funds; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: Latest UK-wide information on the number of Child Trust Fund vouchers issued and the number of accounts opened was published on 29 September 2006 on the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_trust_funds/child-trust-funds.htm.
	Constituency level data is not currently available.

Civil Servants

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants his Department employs, broken down by pay band; and what the pay range of each band is.

John Healey: HM Treasury's departmental report (Cm 6830, May 2006) sets out staff numbers by pay range. Report No. 62 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries (Cm 6727, March 2006) sets out salary bands for the senior civil service. Pay ranges for Treasury staff in ranges below these grades are:
	
		
			  £ 
			  Range  Minimum  Normal maximum  High performance maximum 
			 A 13,989 16,378 17,938 
			 B 15,711 19,848 22,550 
			 C 18,752 25,451 26,650 
			 D 23,164 36,402 41,000 
			 E 38,606 55,055 61,500

Currency Exchange

Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the percentage change has been in  (a) the value of the dollar against the pound and  (b) the value of UK investments in US stocks in each of the last three years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the percentage change has been in (a) the value of the dollar against the pound and (b) the value of UK investments in US stocks in each of the last three years. (97396)
	Information on the sterling/US dollar exchange rate is published monthly in the ONS "Financial Statistics" publication and is shown in the table below.
	
		
			  US dollar/sterling exchange rate (pound sterling per US dollar), 2001 to 2005 
			   2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Annual average 0.694 0.666 0.612 0.546 0.550 
			 Percentage change — -4.2 -8.1 -10.8 0.7 
			 End-year 0.687 0.621 0.559 0.521 0.583 
			 Percentage change — -9.6 -10.1 -6.7 11.8 
			  Source: ONS Financial Statistics. 
		
	
	Information on the value of UK investment in the US is shown in the table below is taken from chapter 10 of the annual Balance of Payment yearbook: "The Pink Book". A geographical breakdown of the UK's International Investment Position is available up to 2004 and is consistent with the 2006 edition of the Pink Book.
	
		
			  UK investment in the US (at end of year), 2001 to 2004 
			  £ billion 
			Of which: 
			   Total investment  Portfolio investment 
			 2001 704.9 222.3 
			 2002 634.1 206.7 
			 2003 783.3 232.8 
			 2004 869.1 276.5 
			
			  Percentage change   
			 2002 -10.1 -7.0 
			 2003 23.5 12.6 
			 2004 10.9 18.8 
			  Source: ONS Pink Book 2006.

Employment Statistics

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the unemployment rate was for people aged 18 to 24 years in each month since January 1992; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the unemployment rate for people aged 18 to 24 years in each month since January 1992. (96622)
	The attached table gives estimates of the unemployment rates for 18 to 24 year old people resident in the United Kingdom since May 1992. Comparable estimates are not available for January and February 1992, so the first estimate is for the three month ending period from May 1992.
	Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			  Unemployment rates( 1)  of people aged 18 to 24 years—United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted 
			  Rate (percentage) 
			   Three month periods ending 
			   January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 
			 1992 n/a n/a n/a n/a 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 
			 1993 17 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 17 17 17 17 
			 1994 18 17 17 16 16 17 16 17 16 16 16 16 
			 1995 16 16 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 
			 1996 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 
			 1997 14 14 13 13 13 13 14 13 13 13 12 12 
			 1998 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 
			 1999 12 12 12 11 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 
			 2000 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 11 11 11 
			 2001 10 11 10 10 10 10 ' 10 10 10 11 11 11 
			 2002 11 11 11 11 10 10 11 11 11 10 11 10 
			 2003 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 
			 2004 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 
			 2005 11 11 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 
			 2006 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 n/a = not available.(1) Unemployed aged 18 to 24 years as a percentage of economically active persons aged 18 to 24 years. Source:ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Employment Statistics

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the employment rate was of the cohort of the least qualified UK adults for each year since 1996-97.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the employment rate for the lowest qualified adults since June 1996. (97322)
	The attached table gives estimates of the employment rates for people in each of the main qualification groups, for the 3 month period ending June each year since 1997. Comparable estimates are not available for 1998 and 2000, and for earlier periods.
	Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			  Employment rates( 1)  for people of working age( 2)  by qualification, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Percentage 
			  Three months ending June each year  Degree or equivalent  Higher education  GCE, A-level or equivalent  GCSE grades A*-C or equivalent  Other qualification( 3)  No qualifications 
			 1997 88 85 77 75 70 52 
			 1999 88 86 78 75 71 50 
			 2001 89 85 79 76 72 50 
			 2002 88 85 78 76 72 50 
			 2003 88 86 78 76 71 50 
			 2004 88 85 78 75 72 49 
			 2005 88 85 78 75 71 48 
			 2006 88 85 78 74 71 47 
			 (1) Total in employment with the relevant qualification as a percentage of all persons with the relevant qualification.  (2) Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59.  (3) Other qualifications include the following qualifications: NVQ level 1 or equivalent, GNVQ GSVQ foundation level, CSE below grade 1 CSE below grade 1 GCSE below grade c, BTEC SCOTVEC first/general certificate, SCOTVEC modules, RSA other, City and Guilds Foundation/Part 1, YT YTP certificate, Key Skills qualification, Basic Skills qualification, Entry level qualification, other qualification.   Note: Comparable data not available for 1998 and 2000.   Source: ONS—Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Financial Ombudsman Service

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases were received by the Financial Ombudsman Service in relation to the sale of  (a) critical illness insurance,  (b) payment protection insurance,  (c) term life assurance and  (d) income protection in each of the last five years.

Edward Balls: The Financial Services Ombudsman (FOS) is operationally independent of the Government. However, I understand that the following table represents the number of cases received by FOS in relation to the sale of  (a) critical illness insurance,  (b) payment protection insurance,  (c) term life assurance and  (d) income protection in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  Cases received 
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-5  2005-06 
			 Critical illness insurance 408 492 582 717 799 
			 Payment protection insurance 513 803 802 833 1315 
			 Term life insurance(1) 3647 5009 5442 4506 4163 
			 Income protection n/a n/a 872 980 1,103 
			 (1) Includes whole of life policies and non-mortgage linked endowments

Fuel Fraud

David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many petrol filling-station owners have been convicted of selling  (a) illegally laundered and  (b) smuggled fuel in Northern Ireland in the last two years; and what the average sentence was handed down by the courts for each offence;
	(2)  how many people have been  (a) charged with and  (b) convicted for the operation of illegal fuel laundering plants within Northern Ireland in the last three years; and what the average sentence handed down by the courts was for that offence.

John Healey: The latest details of convictions and average sentencing were published in HMRC Annual Report 2004-05, in which conviction and sentence details relate to all types of hydrocarbon oils fraud and smuggling, including selling illegally laundered and smuggled fuel and operating illegal fuel laundering plants. The breakdown between types of fraud is not available.
	Prosecution figures for 2005-06 will be published in HMRC's Annual Report 2005-06.
	The number of people charged in relation to hydrocarbon oils fraud in Northern Ireland during the last three years are set out in the following table:
	
		
			   Number of people charged 
			 2002-03 5 
			 2003-04 6 
			 2004-05 7 
		
	
	The figures relate to charges for all types of hydrocarbon oils fraud.

Household Poverty

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) the UK live in a family in which neither parent works.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of children in a family where neither parent works. (97006)
	The attached table gives the requested information.
	Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			  Number of children( 1)  in a family in which neither parent works( 2)  by constituency and region April-June 2006 
			   Number (Thousand) 
			 United Kingdom 2,012 
			 North East 96 
			 South Tyneside 10 
			 Jarrow 5 
			 (1) Children refers to children under 16.(2) Data in this table excludes families with unknown economic activity status. Source:Labour Force Survey

Lone Parent Households

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of children lived in lone parent households in each year since 1979-80.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question on the proportion of dependent children living in lone parent households since 1979. (97240)
	Estimates of the percentage of dependent children living in families headed by a lone parent in the United Kingdom are shown in the attached table.
	
		
			  Proportion of dependent children( 1)  living in families headed by a lone parent, United Kingdom 
			   Percentages 
			 1979 11 
			 1986 13 
			 1992 16 
			 1993 16 
			 1994 18 
			 1995 19 
			 1996 21 
			 1997 21 
			 1998 22 
			 1999 22 
			 2000 22 
			 2001 22 
			 2002 23 
			 2003 23 
			 2004 23 
			 2005 24 
			 2006 24 
			 (1) Dependent children are those aged under 16 or aged 16 to 18 who are never-married and in full-time education. Sources:Pre 1992 General Household Survey (Great Britain), 1992-2006 Labour Force Survey (United Kingdom)

Military Tax-free Bonus

Robert Flello: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his assessment is of whether the tax free bonus will affect the entitlement of soldiers in receipt of tax credits.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 October 2006 to the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) and the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field).

Public Service Broadcasting Licences

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the contribution to Exchequer revenue of public service broadcasting licences was in each year since 2000; what estimate his Department has made of such revenue in each year up to 2015; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The answer is in the following table:
	
		
			  Licensees collectively paid 
			   £ million 
			 1999-2000 404 
			 2000-01 417 
			 2001-02 335 
			 2002-03 280 
			 2003-04 276 
			 2004-05 203 
			 2005-06 87 
		
	
	The communications regulator, Ofcom, is responsible for setting the level of payments.

Tax Credits

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research has been conducted into the problems encountered by self-employed people claiming tax credits; and if he will take steps to change the system to take better account of the needs of the self-employed.

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC has ongoing research into tax credits as part of its active external research programme. Details can be found on their website http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/activities.htm . The self-employed participate in many of these studies. The research findings will be of interest to all claimants, including the self-employed and where relevant, any distinct conclusions which can be made for this group will be drawn.
	Tax Credits benefit the self-employed as well as employed families. There are rules in the system to cater for their particular needs.

UK Investments

Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total value was of  (a) UK investments in the US and  (b) UK lending to the US Federal Government in 2005-06; and what percentage of such UK investments is represented by UK lending.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the total value is of (a) UK investments in the US and (b) UK lending to the US Federal government; and what percentage of such UK investments is represented by US lending. (97397)
	The information shown in the table below is taken from Table 10.1 of the annual Balance of Payment yearbook: The Pink Book 2006. A geographical breakdown of the UK's International Investment Position is available up to 2004 and is consistent with the 2006 edition of the Pink Book.
	
		
			  Investment levels as at 31 December 2004 
			   £ billion 
			  UK investments in the US  
			 Direct 149.8 
			 Portfolio 276.5 
			 Other 442.7 
			 Total 869.1 
			   
			  US investments in the UK  
			 Direct 127.3 
			 Portfolio 379.1 
			 Other 418.5 
			 Total 925.0 
			  Source: ONS Pink Book 2006 
		
	
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not have data available for US lending to the UK. It is included within US other investment in the UK in the table above, but this also includes deposits from the US with UK residents (together with some other very much smaller components).
	ONS does not have data for UK lending to the US Federal Government.

Unclaimed Assets

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been invested in youth and community facilities through the unclaimed assets programme since its inception.

Edward Balls: As set out in the 2005 pre-Budget report, the Government welcome the banking industry's commitment to establish a scheme to allow genuinely unclaimed assets to be reinvested in the community. The Government and industry have agreed that the definition of an unclaimed asset should generally cover bank and building society accounts where there has been no customer activity for a period of 15 years as that will best identify those accounts that are genuinely unclaimed. No assets have been invested as work on setting up the scheme is ongoing.

VAT (Unions)

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much VAT was collected from  (a) registered trades unions,  (b) the Union of Democratic Mineworkers and  (c) Vendside Ltd. in each year since 1998.

Dawn Primarolo: Consistent data sources back to 1998 are not available but the following table shows VAT receipts from registrations classified as trade unions since 1999.
	
		
			  Trade unions 
			   Net VAT receipts (£ million) 
			 1999 -0.67 
			 2000 -0.39 
			 2001 0.21 
			 2002 -0.49 
			 2003 -0.13 
			 2004 0.35 
			 2005 -0.32 
		
	
	Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 does not permit HM Revenue and Customs to disclose information relating to the tax affairs of individual taxpayers.

Wages and Incomes

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) average wage was for (i) full-time male, (ii) full-time female, (iii) part-time male and (iv) part-time female employees and  (b) average household income was for working age households in the Peterborough city council area in (A) cash and (B) constant price terms in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 30 October 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question what the (a) average wage for (i) full-time male, (ii) full-time female, (iii) part time male and (iv) part time female employees and (b) average household income for working age households was for working age households was in the Peterborough City Council area in (A) cash and (B) constant price terms in each of the last 10 years. (97518).
	Currently average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period. This is the standard definition used for ASHE. The ASHE does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work. I have attached tables containing statistics on earnings from the ASHE for the years 1997-2006 for the Peterborough City Council area. The second table shows these earnings statistics expressed in 2006 prices by uprating with the Retail Price Index (RPI).
	Average household income for working age households by council area is not available. Household income statistics for all households in the UK, based on the Family Resources Survey, are produced by the Department of Work and Pensions. Additionally the Office for National Statistics has produced statistics for wards for 2001-02 only. These estimates are based on a statistical model and are experimental statistics—they have been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice but are not accredited as National Statistics.
	The ASHE, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold.
	
		
			  Gross weekly (cash £) pay for employee jobs( a)  by place of work—Peterborough 
			  £ 
			   Median  Mean 
			   Full-time  Part-time  Full-time  Part-time 
			   Male  Female  Male  Female  Male  Female  Male  Female 
			 2006 468 *348 X **136 543 419 **169 *171 
			 2005 *456 *350 X *136 540 386 **228 *170 
			 2004(b) *442 *315 X **138 508 359 **170 *162 
			 2004 454 *327 X **133 516 366 **177 *165 
			 2003 *425 *313 X **123 493 366 **114 *146 
			 2002 417 *308 X **105 484 *384 **112 *124 
			 2001 *403 *289 **95 **116 457 *334 *106 *133 
			 2000 371 *284 **119 **103 424 306 X *126 
			 1999 374 *264 X **113 423 304 X *115 
			 1998 369 *252 X *96 416 291 X *116 
			 1997 357 *244 X **91 413 272 X *100 
		
	
	
		
			  Gross weekly (constant price £) pay for employee jobs( a)  by place of work—Peterborough 
			  £ 
			   Median  Mean 
			   Full-time  Part-time  Full-time  Part-time 
			   male  female  male  female  male  female  male  female 
			 2006 468 *348 X **136 543 419 **169 *171 
			 2005 *470 *361 X *140 556 398 **235 *175 
			 2004(b) *469 *334 X **146 538 381 **180 *172 
			 2004 481 *347 X **141 547 388 **188 *175 
			 2003 *459 *338 X **133 532 395 **123 *158 
			 2002 467 *345 X **118 542 *430 **125 *139 
			 2001 *459 *329 **108 **132 521 *381 *121 *152 
			 2000 430 *329 **138 **119 492 355 X *146 
			 1999 445 *314 X **134 503 362 X *137 
			 1998 446 *305 X *116 503 352 X *140 
			 1997 450 *307 X **115 520 343 X *126 
			 (a) Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.(b) In 2004 additional supplementary surveys were introduced to improve the coverage of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Figures are presented both excluding and including the additional surveys for comparison purposes. Note:Constant price terms have been uprated using the Retail Prices Index (RPI), re-based at April 2006. Guide to qualityThe Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality.The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent., we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. KeyCV <= 5 per cent.* CV >5 per cent. and <=10 per cent.** CV > 10 per cent. and <=20 per cent.X CV > 20 per cent.The median replaces the mean as the headline statistic. The weighted mean is the sum of the weighted values divided by the sum of the weights. The median is the value below which 50 per cent. of employees fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influenced less by extreme values and because of the skewed distribution of earnings data. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans there are to change the number of EU-led peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The EU's Operational Commander for Operation Althea, the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, General Sir John Reith has submitted his six monthly mission review to the EU Political and Security Committee (PSC). This review contains recommendations for the restructuring of Operation Althea, including options for a reduction of the number of troops in theatre. The Operational Commander's proposed changes will be reviewed by the PSC and EU Military Committee before being submitted to the General Affairs and External Relations Council for a decision.

British Council

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what process was followed in selecting  (a) Hobsbawm Macaulay Public Relations,  (b) HMC Public Relations and  (c) Brunswick Arts to work for the British Council; and what other companies tendered for the work in question.

Geoff Hoon: Hobsbawm Macaulay Public Relations and HMC Public Relations have never been employed by the British Council. The Council did however employ Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications Limited, Hobsbawm Media + Marketing Communications Limited and Brunswick Arts Consultancy Limited.
	British Council staff members are required to follow corporate guidelines for procurement; which are in line with Government best practice. I will arrange for a copy of the British Council's guidelines for procurement to be placed in the Library of the House.
	On this occasion the British Council does not hold records of the other companies who were considered for this work.

Burma

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the Government of Burma regarding the employment of children in the Burmese armed services; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: We remain deeply concerned about the recruitment and exploitation of children by the Burmese military. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, (Mr. McCartney) raised this issue when he met the Burmese ambassador on 15 June and again in a letter to the Burmese Foreign Minister on 5 July. Our ambassador in Rangoon reiterated our concerns about the human rights situation in Burma in a meeting with the Burmese Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister on 18 August.

China

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made on behalf of  (a) China's Christian community,  (b) Gao Zhishung,  (c) Pastor Goug Shenghliang and  (d) Pastor Zhang Ruig Laiug.

Kim Howells: We regularly urge the Chinese Government to respect religious freedom. Officials from our embassy in Beijing accompanied the Archbishop of Canterbury during his visit to China, 18-23 October, and raised the abuse of church leaders and the restrictions against religious practitioners with the Chinese authorities. We raised freedom of religion at the last round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, in Beijing in July, and included Gao Zhisheng and the case of Pastor Zhang Rongliang on a list of individual cases handed over to the Chinese authorities at the dialogue. Gao Zhisheng was also included on a list of cases we handed over to the Chinese during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the UK in September. We have not made representations on the case of Pastor Gong Shenliang. However, we regularly raise individual cases of concern and are willing to consider action on any case where valid information is provided.

Colombia

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  whether the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism discussed the activities of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency during his recent visit to Colombia;
	(2)  whether the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism discussed UK counter narcotics training with members of the Colombian  (a) government and  (b) armed forces on his recent visit;
	(3)  which military personnel the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism met during his recent visit to Colombia;
	(4)  which non-governmental civil society groups the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism met on his recent visit to Colombia;
	(5)  what  (a) general human rights concerns and  (b) specific human rights cases the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism raised with Colombian officials on his recent visit;
	(6)  whether the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism raised the issue of extra-judicial executions by the Colombian armed forces with Colombian officials on his recent visit to Colombia;
	(7)  if she will make available the minutes of meetings held by the Minister of State with responsibility for counter narcotics and counter terrorism during his recent visit to Colombia.

Kim Howells: I visited Colombia on 12-15 October as part of a wider visit to the region to inspect UK engagement to combat the flow of cocaine to the UK. In Bogota, I called on the Vice President, Foreign Minister and Defence Minister to discuss current co-operation and the Colombian government's own serious commitment to this task. I emphasised in all meetings the importance which the UK attaches to co-operation to tackle the drugs problem, the essential nature of strict adherence to international human rights standards and the need for Colombia to develop its democracy and economy. All interlocutors gave clear commitments on these important issues. I also met a number of Colombian police and military personnel who are directly engaged in tackling drugs trafficking and which the UK supports, in particular through a number of training projects including bomb disposal, de-mining and rules of engagement. It is not our practice to name those involved in operational matters, nor to make public any records of discussions of operational matters. The UK will continue to support the Colombian authorities, where we consider it appropriate to do so and where we can be satisfied that our co-operation serves to develop human rights-compatible law enforcement in Colombia.
	My visit also gave me the opportunity to support the concept of the shared responsibility agenda on drugs, promoted by the Colombian government and which it will be taking forward, as a first step, through a conference on 2 November in London.
	My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, also raised human rights issues with the Government of Colombia when he visited the country in September this year. He met a range of interlocutors, including the Minister of Defence and Minister of Interior, as well as representatives from civil society, non-governmental organisations, trade unions, the business community and the Colombian armed forces. During his meetings he emphasised the importance the UK attaches to respect for human rights. He raised our concerns about a range of human rights issues in Colombia and encouraged the Colombian authorities to continue in their efforts to improve the human rights situation. The UK will continue to work with civil society organisations and the Colombian authorities to help achieve this and we support a number of projects related to security sector reform and human rights in this respect.

Departmental Staff

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many and what percentage of ambassadors were educated in  (a) the state school sector,  (b) the independent school sector,  (c) Oxford or Cambridge university and  (d) other universities.

Geoff Hoon: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not hold this data as a matter of course on all its staff. The data has been collected in order to answer this question. Of the 157 members of the diplomatic service currently serving as Heads of Mission and Governors of Overseas Territories, 92 (58.59 per cent.) were educated at schools in the independent sector, 55 (35 per cent.) in the state sector (including the current Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service, Sir Peter Ricketts KCMG), and details of eight (5 per cent.) are not known. 77 (49 per cent.) were educated at either Oxford or Cambridge universities, 50 (32 per cent.) at other universities, 24 (15 per cent.) did not attend university, and the details of four (2.5 per cent.) are not known. Two Heads of Mission posts are currently vacant.
	All posts in the diplomatic service are filled on the basis of fair and open competition, through the internal selection boards of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or, where appropriate, interview or selection panels involving external stakeholders for the post in question. Information on educational qualifications is of no relevance to the process of appointing Heads of Mission, and is not sought by selection boards. The FCO is committed to recruiting a talented and diverse work force which reflects the society it serves, and its recruitment policies are designed to encourage applications from the widest possible range of backgrounds. The Department is active in outreach activities such as career fairs, work experience schemes and community business events, to support this policy.

European Union

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to her statement in Prospects for the EU in 2006 (Cm 6896), on better regulation, what the Government's position is on European Commission proposals to simplify EU legislation with regard to food packaging; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The Council of Ministers agreed on 25 September a common position on the Commission's proposal for a new directive on nominal quantities for pre-packaged products. The proposal, as amended by the Council, would deregulate all pre-packaged products except wines and spirits, though member states which currently maintain quantity restrictions on milk, butter, pasta, or coffee, or on white sugar, would be able to retain these for a transitional period of five years (six for white sugar). The United Kingdom supports this proposal, which is a valuable step towards simplifying the corpus of EU legislation and removing out of date restrictions. The next step in the legislative process is for the European Parliament to give it a Second Reading in the light of the Council's position.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many senior officials from Saddam Hussain's regime are detained  (a) without charge and  (b) subsequent to being charged but awaiting trial; under what authority they are held and by whom; in which country they are being held; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: UK forces in Iraq are not detaining any senior officials from Saddam Hussein's regime. US forces in Iraq are detaining 10 senior officials on the grounds that it is necessary for imperative reasons of security under the authority conferred by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1546 and 1637. The US is also detaining on behalf of the Government of Iraq and at its request a further 67 senior officials under Iraqi criminal procedures. These individuals will be prosecuted in the Iraqi courts. We understand the Government of Iraq is itself detaining at least one senior official of the former regime, but we are not able to confirm numbers or legal basis of their detention.

Kosovo

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with President Tadic on the final status talks on Kosovo; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: I discussed the Kosovo future status process with President Tadic when we met in London on 21 June 2006. The issue was also discussed with Serbian Prime Minister Dr. Vojislav Kostunica in his meetings with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, my noble and Learned Friend the Lord Chancellor and myself in London on 26 and 27 June 2006. We maintain a regular dialogue with the authorities in Belgrade and Pristina on the Kosovo future status process both bilaterally, and with our Contact Group partners: the US, Russia, Italy, Germany and France.

Sudan

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made by the UN and Africa Union technical assessment mission towards establishing a UN mandate in Darfur; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: A UN peacekeeping force is critical to establishing and sustaining a peaceful outcome to the crisis in Darfur. The UN and African Union (AU) deployed a technical assessment mission to Darfur in July to begin planning for transition from the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to a UN force. On 31 August the Security Council passed resolution 1706 which mandates a UN force for Darfur, drawing on the planning done by that joint AU/UN technical assessment mission.
	The Government of Sudan continue to resist a UN deployment in Darfur. I, and others in the Government, are involved in intense diplomatic activity in co-ordination with the UN, African and Arab leaders, EU and other international partners to make clear to President Bashir that he faces a strategic choice: to act responsibly in support of peace or face increasing isolation. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) pressed President Bashir personally when they met on 16 October.

Sudan

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the next steps are towards gaining the agreement of the Sudenese Government on the future UN peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Margaret Beckett: A UN peacekeeping force is critical to a resolution of the appalling Darfur conflict. The UK co-sponsored UN Security Council resolution 1706, adopted on 31 August, which mandated a force. Since then we have been engaging Sudan directly to agree to its deployment: my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) raised this with President Bashir in Khartoum on 16 October.
	We are also in close contact with international partners to maintain sustained and unified pressure on the Sudanese Government to co-operate fully with the UN. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe (Mr. Hoon) and I had discussions on Darfur with our counterparts from the African Union, UN Security Council and EU partners during the UN General Assembly week (18-22 September) in New York. We have been in intensive telephone contact since and our missions are lobbying key governments who have influence over Khartoum.
	We, and others, are making crystal clear to the Sudanese Government that there are considerable benefits for the people of Sudan in accepting international peacekeeping assistance, and negative consequences if the situation continues to deteriorate as a result of Khartoum's rejection of such assistance.

Tibet

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the Chinese authorities about the killings at Nangpa La, near the Tibet Nepal border, of Tibetan escapees by the Chinese army patrols; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: We are working both bilaterally and with the EU to seek an urgent and transparent investigation by the Chinese Government. The EU raised the incident with the Chinese Government at the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, held in Beijing on 19 October 2006.

Visas

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why visas have not yet been issued to the individuals involved in appeal cases OA/32813/2005 and OA/32707/2005 (embassy reference KGN/90197 and KGN/90199); when she expects them to be issued; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Our visa section in Kingston has not yet received the appeal determination from the Home Office that would enable them to issue visas to the individuals to which the hon. Member refers. They have asked the Home Office to send them the determination that will confirm the outcome of the appeal hearing. UK visas sent a letter to the hon. Member on 24 October indicating this.